


The Jagged Heart

by kikkimax



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 15:01:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18195734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikkimax/pseuds/kikkimax
Summary: Tony learns not everyone is as harmless as they first appear and suffers the consequences of an obsession gone too far.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before season one was even over, certain details may have been rendered AU by subsequent canon.

Kimberly Gordon couldn’t believe her luck.  After eight years at NCIS she finally got the opportunity to get out of the secretarial pool and into a real office.  And not just any office either; this was Director Tom Morrow’s office.  Even if she was only his interim administrative assistant until pitiful, pregnant Diana came out of her coma.  Kim refused to feel bad about the poor girl’s tumble down the back steps as she gathered Diana’s impressive collection of personal items from the desk and shelves and placed them haphazardly in an empty cardboard box she’d scrounged from the copy room.  

Months earlier Kim had heard it through the grapevine that Diana would need someone to cover for her during her maternity leave.  Since no one else would be available during what amounted to vacation season she had been encouraged to upgrade her security clearance.  She had jumped at the chance, even if it meant suspending her medications for a while to pass the drug screening.  She stopped them immediately and by the time she peed in a cup her system was clear.  

It surprised her to find she hadn’t really needed all those meds anyway.  All they did was numb her to the world, making it a gray, lifeless place that she passed through almost without notice.  Her job performance hadn’t suffered any and since she felt fine most of the time, except for the occasional jumpiness, she had elected not to start popping pills again after her promotion was complete.

A hushed but heated conversation broke into her thoughts, echoing into the office from the hallway just outside the partially open door.  Tense moments like these were the only times she longed for something to calm her nerves.  Willing her body not to respond, Kim reassured herself that the problem had nothing to do with her.

“ _Boss, there’s no reason for us all to go down for this.  It was my mistake.  Let me take the heat_ ,” a frustrated tenor voice urged.

“ _Shut up, DiNozzo_ ,” another man ordered brusquely.  “ _You were doing what I told you to do and that’s exactly what I’m going to tell Morrow.  No grandstanding and no heroics, do you hear me?_ ”

Kim physically flinched.  The words were far from abusive but the angry tone took her by surprise, sending her mind down a path she really didn’t want to follow.  Taking deliberate, deep breaths she clenched her fists and closed her eyes, counting backwards from a hundred as she willed her racing heart to slow.  

“ _We’re going to be late_ ,” a worried sounding female interjected, effectively cutting off the argument and bringing Kim’s attention back to the here and now.  

For the third time in as many days Kim managed to fend off an impending panic attack without pharmaceutical intervention. By the time a very attractive man with silvered hair led a group of three into the office, Kimberly had her emotions firmly in check.

“Sit,” the first man through the door barked at the other two, pointing to the elegant leather sofa before turning to Kim.

With a practiced mask of detachment Kim watched the younger man and the woman obediently seat themselves on opposite ends of the couch, and then met their leader’s cool blue gaze levelly.  “Can I help you?” she asked, projecting a composed demeanor in spite of the trepidation his voice had triggered in her.  There was no doubt the man was handsome, but Kim knew she would never like him.  First impressions with her were everything and he had come across as intimidating and rigid, not unlike her own father, what she could remember of him anyway.

“I’m Special Agent Gibbs.  This is Todd and DiNozzo,” Gibbs pointed to each of the other agents in turn as he introduced them.  Kim ignored the woman, but the attractive man caught her attention as he pretended to casually straighten his already straight tie.  NCIS was rife with this standoffish, GQ type of man and she constantly had to remind herself why they were off limits.

“He’s expecting us,” Gibbs added with a nod toward the director’s door.

“I’ll let him know you’re here,” Kim replied, hitting the intercom.  “Sir, Agents Gibbs, Todd, and, uh… I’m sorry, what was your name again?” she politely asked the good-looking guy on the couch just to put him in his place.

“Anthony DiNozzo,” he replied forgivingly, making eye contact as he leaned forward with a dazzling smile.  “You can call me Tony.”

His eyes lit up when he smiled and Kim found herself momentarily lost in his gaze.  Her mouth went dry and her mind blanked for a second, registering only the striking face.  

“Ahem,” Gibbs cleared his throat, interrupting her minor fugue.

“And, um, yes… Agent DiNozzo,” Kim stammered as she dropped her head, feeling her cheeks flush at her slip in professionalism.  She had expected cold indifference as usual, not blatant flirtation, something with which she had very little practical experience.  Inwardly, she cursed herself for responding so readily to him.  “Sorry,” she muttered without looking up again.

“Don’t worry about it,” DiNozzo replied almost smugly.  “I get that a lot.”

Gibbs harrumphed and Todd shook her head sadly.  “Like he needed an ego boost today,” she grumbled in a quiet aside, but Kim still heard her and it stung.

“No, I just meant that DiNozzo is a hard name to remember,” Tony protested his innocence, his smile still confidently in place.

“Sure you did,” Todd smirked.

“Send in Gibbs,” came the abrupt request through the speaker.

“You can go in now, Agent Gibbs,” Kim passed on the information before pointedly returning to her work.

Gibbs studied his subordinates for another second before moving towards the inner door.  “Keep him in line,” he instructed the female agent as he tapped on the door twice before opening it and disappearing inside.

DiNozzo quickly leaned forward to try to catch a glimpse of the director before the door closed.  Agent Todd stared him down until he made a show of unbuttoning his suit coat and relaxing back against the cushion behind him as he stretched an arm out along the back of the couch towards her.  

“Comfy?” Todd questioned sarcastically.

“Very,” DiNozzo replied, nonchalantly lifting his right foot up to rest on his left knee.  “You?”

“Not at all.  How can you be so calm?”

“You haven’t been called on the carpet much, have you Kate?”

“I’ve never been called on the carpet.  At least not until I met you guys,” Todd exclaimed, punching DiNozzo hard on the handiest body part.

“You’ll get used to it,” Tony assured with a maddening grin as he rubbed his battered knee.  “Besides, you’re not even in trouble; you were just an innocent bystander.”

“So, a character witness then?”

“Oh crap,” Tony gasped in mock alarm.  “I am so screwed.”

Kim surreptitiously watched the byplay between the agents, trying to gauge their banter and easy rapport.  Her overactive imagination kicked in and provided explicit details of what these two beautiful people got up to in their down time.  She felt a surge of an old well-known hurt, a demon she thought she’d conquered long ago.  

In one brief moment bright eyes and a brilliant smile aimed her way had done injury to her already jagged heart, even though she knew he hadn’t meant anything by it.  Men like Anthony DiNozzo simply didn’t notice women like her.  Kim knew she might as well be invisible next to his gorgeous partner.  Jealousy was a brutal taskmaster and she hated the way it made her feel, burning her deep down inside.  Suddenly she longed for her overly medicated numbness.

“I really don’t want to say the wrong thing and get you in trouble,” Kate fretted, suddenly very serious.

“I’m already in trouble,” DiNozzo noted as he brushed away a piece of barely noticeable lint from the cuff of his pants leg.  “Look, don’t try to protect me, that’ll only make things worse.  Just be honest.”

“Tony…”

“Seriously, worst case scenario; Gibbs gets yelled at and I get canned.  No biggie.”

“Gibbs is not going to let that happen,” Todd objected strenuously.  “He’s been bending the rules around here for way too many years to let them fire you over something like this.”

“Aw, Kate, you do care,” Tony teased, batting his eyelashes at her.

“No, I don’t,” Todd responded with a small smile and another gentler slap to his leg, “It would just be really, really boring around here without you.”

Both agents jumped when the much-watched door opened and Gibbs poked his head out.  “Kate,” he called.  “You stay,” he instructed decisively, pointing at DiNozzo as he glanced once in Kim’s direction.

Kate patted Tony on the shoulder as she moved to the door, glancing back at him one more time as Gibbs ushered her into the director’s inner sanctum.

When the door once again closed, Kim unwittingly witnessed the remaining man’s bravado slip for an instant as he ran a hand over his face and sighed.  “Sit, stay.  What am I?  A dog?” he grumbled under his breath as he thumped his elevated foot back to the floor.  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, looking dejected as he studied the rug.

The vulnerable man behind the self-assured façade was even more appealing and Kim had to make herself turn away to keep from reaching out to him.  She quickly shoved a lid onto the box of Diana’s possessions as she stood.  Hefting the whole thing, she moved towards the row of tall filing cabinets, searching for the most out of the way spot for it until she could realistically dispose of it.  Belatedly she realized the box was heavier than she’d estimated as she faltered when she tried to lift it to the top of the nearest filing cabinet.  She startled violently when arms suddenly reached around her to take the weight of the box.

“Easy,” Agent DiNozzo advised smoothly.  “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

The clean, masculine smell of him triggered an unwanted and quite noticeable increase in her respirations.  Kim couldn’t stop the tremors that suddenly racked her body, which seemed to have a mind of its own as it rebelliously leaned heavily against the solid chest behind her.  “S… sorry,” she stuttered, her breathing coming even more rapidly.

“S’okay.  I got it,” Tony assured cheerfully, easily sliding the box into place.  “You could have asked for help.”

When the arms retreated, Kim felt herself wilt with the loss.  Her knees became embarrassingly weak and she actively began to hyperventilate as the delayed panic attack finally hit home.

“Hey,” her unsuspecting hero called out, once again rescuing her by catching her arm and deftly maneuvering her back to her chair.  “Are you okay?”

Unable to speak, Kim shook her head as he started going through her desk drawers.  Finding her lunch, he emptied the contents onto the desk and helped her crumple the edges of the bag and hold it over her mouth and nose.  

“Slow deep breaths, Kimberly,” he soothed, rubbing her back with his free hand.  “That’s it.”  

Usually she couldn’t stand to be touched but found his hand warm and oddly invigorating so she didn’t pull away.  The concern on his face was heartening, but remaining in such close proximity to him did nothing to help her regain her composure.  It had been a long time since she’d been handled by a man and even longer since one had been so kind to her.  Confused tears pricked behind her eyes as she slowly began to calm down.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered in mortification, lowering the paper bag when she finally had the breath to speak.  “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be silly,” Tony placated with a pat to her back.  “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Kim lied unconvincingly as a single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.  “I suddenly felt dizzy… um, sick.  There must be something going around.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tony joked, offering a box of Kleenex.  “For a minute there I thought it was me.”

Taking a tissue Kim wiped her face before accepting the already open Diet Coke he pressed into her hand.  “Take small sips,” he encouraged, still kneeling beside her.

“How did you know my name?” she asked, realizing he had called her Kimberly.

“I’m an investigator,” Tony grinned, threatening to make her hyperventilate again.  “That’s why I make the big bucks.”

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs growled in apparent irritation as he and Todd stepped out of the director’s office.  “I should have known better than to leave you alone in an office with a woman.”

“She needed help,” Tony declared defensively, rising to his feet and refastening the single button on his jacket.  “What was I supposed to do?  Sit on the couch like a good little agent and let her pass out?”

“Are you alright, Miss Gordon?” Gibbs asked in concern when he noticed her pale face and shaking hands.

Remembering the nameplate she had placed on her desk just that morning Kim felt like a fool for even imagining that Tony had somehow instinctively known her name.  She was surprised how quickly she had slipped back into her old habit of what Doctor Burke used to call ‘magical thinking’.

“Miss Gordon?”

“I’m better now,” Kim managed, “Thanks to Agent DiNozzo.”

“Tony,” DiNozzo insisted.

“Tony,” Kim repeated with a tiny smile, glancing up at him in adoration.

Gibbs sighed and rolled his eyes.  “If you’re through being a boy scout,” he thumbed over his shoulder indicating the open door, “Director Morrow would like to see you now.”

“See ya later,” Tony whispered, giving Kim’s arm a little squeeze as he turned to go.

“I’ll look after her,” Kate assured, stepping over to the desk.

DiNozzo winked at her then squared his shoulders and followed his boss into the lion’s den.

“Is he in a lot of trouble?” Kim asked in a shaky voice as soon as the door closed.

“Well, the director didn’t seem too mad and the impending lawsuit looks like so much smoke and mirrors,” Todd mused, slipping a hand down to cradle Kim’s wrist, inconspicuously taking a pulse.  “I don’t think he really has anything to worry about.”

“Poor Tony.”

Kate laughed lightly.  “Now don’t go feeling too sorry for him, he did handcuff a high-powered attorney and drag him kicking and screaming into the office.  Men like that don’t take public humiliation easily, there are bound to be a few repercussions.”

“Tony must be very brave,” Kim replied, apparently still in a daze.  

“Riiiight,” Kate drawled with a frown.  “How are you feeling now?  Your heart rate is still a little high.”

“No, I’m fine,” Kim insisted, coming to her senses and tugging her arm away.  “Low blood sugar, I’m better now.”

Eyeing the diet soda suspiciously, Kate nodded and moved back to the couch.  “Uh huh.”

As much as she’d already begun to hate Agent Todd on general principle, Kim didn’t want anyone to dislike her. “I wasn’t flirting with your boyfriend,” she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out at the sudden change in the other woman’s disposition.  

“Boyfriend?” Kate asked incredulously.  “Tony is _not_ my boyfriend.  Did he tell you that?”

“No!  No, I just assumed… the way you two act together,” Kim explained hastily.  “I just thought…”

“Um, Kimberly, right?” Kate asked, clearly reading the placard.  “Look, you don’t know me from Adam, but I do know Tony.  I love him like a brother, but really, you don’t want to go there.”

“He’s already got a girlfriend?”

“It’s hard to say on any given day,” Kate hedged guiltily before taking a deep breath and plunging on with brutal honesty.  “Tony’s a player.”

“But he’s so sweet,” Kim objected, irritated that this person dared to pass judgment on such a wonderful man.  Suddenly it became clear; the agent was simply jaded because Tony had not been interested in a relationship with her.

“Yeah, he can be very sweet when he wants to be,” Kate allowed grudgingly, “Or when he wants something.  But he’s definitely a skirt chaser.  You seem like a nice person.  Don’t set yourself up for a fall.”

With a self-effacing laugh Kim shrugged dolefully.  “He wouldn’t be interested in me anyway.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Kate replied.  “It’s none of my business; just don’t expect too much if you do go out with him.  He’s not the type to settle down.  That’s all I’m saying.”

Kim stifled her growing resentment and got back to work.  “Thank you for your concern,” she sniffed haughtily.

“No problem,” Todd muttered dryly.  

A tense silence stretched out until at long last Tony came out of the director’s office shutting the door quietly behind him.

“How’d it go?” Kate whispered, eyes wide.

“Ouch,” Tony proclaimed with a grimace.  He turned around and raised his jacket to show off his rump.  “Is there anything left?” he asked, looking demurely at Kate over his shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s plenty left, Tony,” Kate assured with a small huff of relieved laughter, catching Kim’s appreciative glance out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh good, ‘cause we’ve been ordered to get our butts back to work and I wasn’t sure I had enough to do that.”

“Good thing you had some to spare,” Kate teased relentlessly.

“Watch it,” Tony warned with a raised finger before turning toward the reception desk.  “Kimberly, it was nice to meet you.  I hope you feel better soon.”

“I already do, thank you so much… Tony.”

Tony pulled a business card out of his pocket and borrowed Kim’s pen.  “If you ever need anything, you know, boxes moved or whatever, give me a call,” he flirted as he scribbled the number of his cell phone on the back.  

“I will,” Kim breathed softly, accepting both the card and pen.

“Tony,” Kate urged, glancing warily at the still closed door.  “Gibbs probably meant now.”

“I’m sure he did,” DiNozzo agreed with a final grin before gesturing for Kate to precede him out of the office.  “Bye.”

“Bye,” Kim called after him, waiting only seconds after he was gone to pull up his personnel file on her computer.

***

“Everything’s okay?” Kate asked as soon as the elevator door closed behind them.

Tony leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest as he grinned wolfishly at her.  “I should probably act wounded for a few days, just for show,” he replied contentedly.  

“You didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.”  Kate wasn’t sure if she should be mad or thankful.

“Yeah, well… _that_.  But it’s not like it goes in my record or anything,” Tony shrugged.  “Besides, Gibbs yells at me all the time, I’m used to it.  Tom Morrow is a sweet-talkin’ devil compared to Gibbs.”

“Speaking of sweet-talking devils, what did you do to that poor woman?”

“Who?” Tony asked in genuine confusion.

“Kimberly Gordon.”

“I didn’t do anything to her,” DiNozzo denied, straightening up.  “Why?  What’d she say?”

Kate huffed impatiently.  “She didn’t have to say anything.  My God, Tony, you had the poor girl tied up in knots with just one smile.  I guess some women really do fall for that greasy DiNozzo charm.”

“Hey,” Tony protested.  “I resent that.”  

“I can’t believe you gave her your number.”

“She won’t call.  She’s not the type.”

***

Kim turned the card in her hand over and over until it was ragged and torn.  The smeared ink was unreadable but it didn’t matter because the numbers were already permanently embedded in her brain.  She wanted to call but it was after midnight now as she’d already been trying to screw up her courage for hours.  Finally giving in to the urge she picked up the phone and dialed the first six digits as she had done dozens of times before.  

_‘Don’t do it.  He’ll only hurt you.’_

“Shut up,” Kim sighed resignedly as she made her decision.

Swallowing hard she hit the last number and closed her eyes as she tentatively held the phone to her ear.  It rang once, twice.  By the third ring she was ready to hang up when a sleep muffled voice answered.

“DiNozzo.”

Not daring to breathe, Kim pictured him dreamily with his tousled hair and a generous five o’clock shadow.  But the words she had practiced wouldn’t come as an unbidden image of a slender arm slinked across Tony’s bare chest on his make-believe bed, the unspoken _‘who is it?’_ echoed in her mind.

“Hello?”  Tony asked, sounding more awake this time.  “Kimberly?”

Dropping the phone in near panic, Kim scrambled to shut it off.  How the hell how she forgotten caller ID?  Of course, Tony would have it, everybody had it.  But it didn’t really matter because she had heard his voice and that was enough.  It was.  It would have to be.  But it wasn’t.  She already felt the compulsion growing to do it again.

_‘They’re laughing at you.  Loverboy and that bitch Todd.’_

“Shut up!” Kim shrieked, throwing the phone against the wall hard enough to ensure Tony DiNozzo would sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night.

***

“Can I help you with something, Miss Gordon?”

Kate quickly lifted her eyes from the file in front of her at the impatient tone in Gibbs’ voice.  So, it hadn’t escaped his notice that the director’s secretary had suddenly found a multitude of reasons to be in their work area off and on all week.  No surprise there, nothing got past him.  

Tony had told her about the spat of strange late-night phone calls but she wasn’t sure if he had mentioned them to Gibbs.  She suspected the fact-finding mission he’d sent DiNozzo on down to Cherry Point yesterday had been his attempt to cool off the impending office romance.  Except there was nothing romantic about it, it was just creepy and bizarre.  

Kimberly never actually approached Tony, just hovered around him like a lovesick puppy, bolting whenever he got too close.  The game, along with a distinct lack of sleep, was slowly driving Tony insane.  If it wasn’t for her profiler’s instincts which screamed that the woman was seriously off her rocker, Kate might have found the situation humorous.  Something told her Gibbs felt the same way.

“Are you lost?” Gibbs questioned further when he didn’t get an answer.     

“I… uh, no,” Kimberly stammered, clearly intimidated.  “I have something for Agent DiNozzo.”

“He’s out.  I’ll take it,” Gibbs volunteered, making the friendly words sound a lot like an order.

Obviously caught out in the open without a fallback plan, Kim faltered for a second before submissively handing over the note and then rushing for the stairs without looking back.

“That was a little harsh,” Kate remarked, inwardly hoping Gibbs had scared the girl away for good, but somehow doubting it.

Gibbs grunted but didn’t otherwise comment as he opened the sealed envelope.

“Gibbs!  That’s private,” Kate exclaimed.  She nevertheless rounded her desk to look over his shoulder as he slipped out the folded piece of paper.  “What does it say?”

“It says ‘I’m sorry.  I can’t help myself.’,” Gibbs read before offering it to her.  “It’s typed.  How efficient.”

Kate frowned and took the note, reading it herself.  “Gibbs, I realize Tony can take care of himself, but there’s something you ought to know...”

“In addition to the phone calls, she’s started following him home at night,” Gibbs interrupted, sounding uncharacteristically uneasy as he tugged the message out of her fingers and carelessly stuffed it back into the envelope.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I followed _her_.” Gripping Kate’s elbow, Gibbs steered her back to her desk and leaned in a little closer as he spoke quietly.  “See what you can find out.  Unofficially.”

With a silent nod Kate settled in and got to work as Gibbs tucked the flap into the envelope and then taped the whole thing to DiNozzo’s monitor.

 


	2. Chapter 2

It was a beautiful day for a late lunch outside so DiNozzo went along peacefully when Abby kidnapped him and Kate from the bullpen.  Especially since things were slow and Gibbs was tied up in meetings for the rest of the afternoon.  With Gibbs out of the office Kimberly had been particularly bothersome in her own phantom of the opera, hanging out on the periphery kind of way.

After sneaking out the back of the building and a quick run to the closest burger joint the three escapees hid in plain sight, settling on a bench in the nearby park to eat.  Having been unusually busy and feeling out of the loop, Abby gleefully claimed the spot between the two agents to catch up on things and confirm or deny the office gossip.  When his cell rang Tony exchanged an aggravated look with Kate over Abby’s bent head as she started in on the oversized soda she’d purchased in lieu of food.

“Not the type to call,” Kate parroted her current favorite ‘I told you so’ line as her partner stopped unwrapping his double cheese-burger and rapidly answered his phone.

“Kim, we need to talk.  Please don’t hang up,” Tony requested urgently as the display went out.  “Dammit,” he grumbled, setting aside the now hated piece of technology in favor of his lunch.

“Who’s Kim?” Abby inquired of Kate with interest as she swung her feet.  “Not the chick from the director’s office who’s after Tony?”

“Yep,” Kate assured, popping the plastic top off her slightly wilted salad and adding a generous dose of fat-free French dressing.

“Wow.  I’ve never been a witness to a stalking before.”

“She’s not stalking me,” Tony objected irritably, taking an unenthusiastically bite of his burger.

“What do you call it?  She’s made your life a living hell for almost two weeks.”  Kate stopped talking long enough to sniff the dressing.  She made a face, but ate a forkful anyway.  “I don’t know how she keeps her job.  Her obsession with you is bound to cut into her work schedule.”

“Have you told her to stop calling?” Abby asked the obvious question.

“I’ve tried but she won’t talk to me,” Tony retorted unhappily.  “Ironic, isn’t it?”

“Of course she won’t talk to you,” Kate put in, dabbing at her mouth with a paper napkin.  “If she doesn’t talk to you then you don’t have the opportunity to reject her.  Apparently she’d rather worship you from afar than take the chance you might dump her.”

Abby pondered the situation for a second, still kicking her feet. “You could change your number.”

“That won’t do any good,” Kate shook her head.  “Little Miss Gordon has access to that kind of information.  If he changes it, she’ll just look up the new one.”

“And you can’t turn your phone off either,” Abby commiserated.  “Gibbs would love that.”

“I know,” Tony sighed, “But it’s not just the phone calls.  Last week she started following me around with a digital camera and I think she’s even slept in her car outside my apartment building a couple times.  She runs off every time I try to corner her.”

“The girl has issues,” Kate agreed, still steadily devouring the flaccid greens, picking out the odd bit of onion.  “I profiled her.”

“You did?” Tony and Abby asked in the same breath.

“What’d you come up with,” Tony questioned further, nibbling on his fries but paying close attention.

“I’m guessing childhood trauma, possibly abuse,” Kate reported succinctly.  “She probably has father issues because I’m sure she doesn’t relate well to men in general.”

“That’s cliché,” Tony pointed out with a fry.

“Clichés are clichés for a reason,” Abby countered, helping herself to Kate’s discarded onion slices.

“I know it’s not very helpful,” Kate admitted ruefully.  “I think it’s time for you to report her to Director Morrow.”

“I just want her to leave me alone.  I’d hate to mess with her job.”

“Tony, she’s definitely got some obsessive/compulsive tendencies and I’m not so sure it stops there.  If she didn’t hold a security clearance, I’d think she had a history of serious mental illness because you don’t get that wacky overnight.  But I checked her out myself and I couldn’t find anything either.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Tony responded, obviously touched by the gesture.  “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.  And Gibbs made me do it.”

“Oh.”

“I’d love to get a peek at her hard drive,” Abby suddenly laughed as she thought about the camera.  “Anything shirtless you think?” she asked, leering at Tony playfully to lighten the mood.

“Abby,” Tony choked out around a mouthful of food.  “Please, I’m eating.”

“Yeah, you want to keep it in your mouth?” Kate admonished, brushing imaginary crumbs off her sleeve.

“I know I can’t spray that far,” DiNozzo disputed grumpily.  His phone rang again and he checked the display.  “Surprise, surprise, it’s her again.”

“Let me talk to her,” Abby volunteered, snatching the cell away before Tony could answer it.  “Tony’s Massage Parlor,” she purred huskily into the mouthpiece.  “We never rub you the wrong way!”

The light stayed on but there was dead silence on the other end.  “Helllloooo!” Abby prodded.

“Who is this?” a startled female voice demanded after another minute of the silent treatment.

“Who is this?  No wait, I know who you are.  I want to know why you’re harassing Tony.”

“Give me the phone,” Tony requested, reaching out his hand but coming away with a Big Gulp instead of a Motorola. “Abs,” he warned as she got up and walked a few feet away.

“Look, Kim, if that _is_ your _real_ name, I’ll make it simple; if you’re not going to talk to him, then stop calling.”

Plopping down Abby’s drink and the remains of his lunch Tony followed as Abby continued to taunt the increasingly angry woman on the other end of the phone.  She dodged and weaved but Tony eventually got his arms around her and squeezed.

“Tony!”  Abby squeaked breathlessly.

“Gimme the phone.”

“No!” Abby laughed, struggling in his grasp as she held the object of his desire at arm’s length.  He slowly reeled her in until he had both of her arms pinned against her chest.  “Oh, Tony… I like it,” she giggled.

“You would,” Tony smirked as he finally grabbed the cell phone and released her.

“Would you guys stop?” Kate scolded, glancing around to see if anybody had witnessed the spectacle.

“Kim, please talk to me,” Tony pleaded before the display went dark.

“There she goes,” Kate said, abruptly rising to her feet and pointing up a little rise along the path, having spotted the sun’s reflection off a camera lens.

“She’s here?” Tony asked, jerking his head in the direction of Kate’s outstretched finger.  “I’ll see you back at the office, I’m gonna catch her and settle this once and for all,” he called back over his shoulder as he took off at a run.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kate protested loudly to his disappearing back.  “What about your lunch?”

“You think he’ll catch her?”

“I hope not,” Kate worried.  “I really think this should be handled through official channels.”

“Maybe he should call the police,” Abby pondered as she sat back on the bench and picked apart Tony’s burger for the pickles and popped them into her mouth one by one before going after a half-eaten piece of tomato.

Kate shook her head.  “As strange as it may seem, she hasn’t broken any laws.  Tony needs to file an internal harassment complaint.”

Abby licked the ketchup off her fingers thoughtfully.  “He won’t do that.  He’d never live it down.”

“Well he needs to get over his pride and do it before something bad happens.”  Kate gathered up the detriments of their meal and stuffed them back into the bag.

“Bad as in a rabbit stew kinda way?”

“Yeah.”

“So, Caitlin,” Abby deviled in her best Ducky imitation, “You’re suddenly terribly protective of young Anthony.”

“He’s my partner,” Kate protested lightly as she carried the trash to the nearest receptacle and started back down the trail towards the car.

“Ha!” Abby scoffed as she jumped up and jogged a few steps to catch up.  “Your mouth says no but your eyes still light up when anyone mentions the words ‘Gitmo’ and ‘iguana’ in the same sentence.”

“You forgot ‘chair’, Abby,” Kate laughed.  “That’s key.”

***

“Damn those sensible shoes,” Tony swore as he stopped at an intersection to look around and catch his breath.  

Kim’s head start had been substantial but he had caught up fairly quickly.  Unfortunately, what the girl lacked in speed she made up for with sneakiness.  She’d doubled back at least half a dozen times, taking them further and further away from the park until they were now engaged in an urban game of cat and mouse.  A game Tony couldn’t help but suspect she was enjoying.  After all, she had his undivided attention and still didn’t have to talk to him.  Every time he thought he’d lost her for good she’d make her presence known and the chase would begin again.   

Giving up, Tony checked his watch and pulled out his phone to see if Kate would come get him.  It rang before he could dial and he glanced at the display with disgust before hitting the talk button.  “I’m done,” he declared angrily.  “From now on Morrow can handle this.”  It gave him a surge of satisfaction to hang up on her for a change.

Raising his head when he heard his name, Tony wasn’t surprised to find his prey standing on the corner across the busy street.  With a huff of annoyance, he pointedly turned his back on her and called Kate.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked without preamble as soon as she answered.  “You’ve been gone for half an hour.”

“I’m a little frustrated about now, but I’m okay,” Tony grumbled.  “Can you pick me up?”

“Where are you?”

Tony supplied the address of the budget hotel on Kim’s side of the street and turned just in time to witness her withdraw into the lobby.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Kate promised and promptly disconnected.

“I’m really getting tired of women hanging up on me,” Tony muttered as he pocketed his cell and cautiously trotted across the street, hopeful to catch Kimberly unaware.  

An aging bellhop chatted up the female desk clerk, otherwise the undersized lobby was empty.  Tony flashed his badge wordlessly and moved to the stairwell where the heavy metal door was slowly closing itself on an automatic hinge.  He pushed it a little further open and peeked into the dimmer interior, careful not to make any noise.  Footsteps echoed up the concrete steps above him and he figured Kim was headed to the roof of the two-story building to take more pictures.

Stepping inside, he leaned against the door until it closed with a dull click.  “Gotcha,” he whispered, climbing the stairs stealthily.  By the time he reached the second floor landing he could hear Kim pounding on the door at the top.  Satisfied that she wasn’t getting away this time he leisurely continued upward, stopping a few steps below her.  She growled at the door in frustration, giving it an ill-advised kick before giving up.

“Hi,” Tony said casually when she turned around and found herself face to face with him.

Kim shrieked and stumbled, almost falling as she rapidly backed away.

“Now, now,” Tony chided.  “Don’t be that way.  I thought you liked me.”

In a fit of desperation Kim threw herself against the horizontal bar on the exit but once again it refused to open.  With a frenzied cry like a trapped animal, she pounded the door with both fists.

“Shouldn’t that be unlocked?  There might be a fire code violation here somewhere,” Tony offered wryly, placing one hand on the wall and one on the painted metal rail to cut off any possible escape attempt.  “It’s about time we had a chat, don’t you think?” Kim froze in place but didn’t turn around.  

Her shoulders began to shudder but Tony couldn’t tell if it was with silent sobs or hyperventilation or something else entirely.  Kim thumped the door one last time before retreating into the corner of the landing as far as she could go, still turned away from him.

“Look,” Tony sighed, the anger suddenly draining out of him at the pitiful sight, “I know you don’t want to hear this.  Kate explained it to me and she’s pretty smart when it comes to stuff like this.  She said if you don’t talk to me I can’t reject you.  Is that what this is about?”  

Not wanting to have this particular conversation any more than Kim, Tony thought of retreating as he waited for an answer but he bit the bullet and forged ahead anyway.  “It’s not like I’m dumping you.  We never had a relationship to start with.”

Kim’s only reaction was to crowd even deeper into the corner, looking for all the world like a naughty schoolgirl being punished.

“You know, there are probably a lot of big, hairy spiders in that dark corner,” Tony pointed out, allowing himself an evil grin when she jumped back a little, proving that she was at least listening.

“Kimberly, I’m really sorry if I did anything to lead you on, I didn’t mean to.  I didn’t know you had… problems.” Tony held up his hands in supplication when Kim spun around and glared at him with wild eyes.

Just as quickly as it had come her fury broke and tears suddenly streamed down her face.  She didn’t speak as she lowered her gaze, looking crushed as she clutched her camera to her chest.  

“Aw, Kim, it’s not you.  I don’t even know you,” Tony breathed regretfully.  He really hadn’t wanted to make her cry.  “We never had a chance.  I know it’s not your fault, but your actions lately haven’t been normal.  You need help.”  He reached out as Kim tentatively took an awkward step towards him.

“That’s it,” Tony encouraged with a gentle smile which faded gradually as he began to realize she wasn’t only moving closer to him, but nearer to a two story drop as well.  Her eyes gave her away as her glance darted to the handrail.

The door below opened and a baritone voice called up to them.  “Police!  What’s going on up there?”

Tony moved without thinking, taking a glancing blow to the temple as Kim hurled the camera at him and tried to bolt over the railing.  He took her down easily but keeping her down proved more difficult as she fought savagely, howling with feral outrage and frustration.  Blood from his head wound ran into his eyes and dripped freely onto the smaller body beneath him, spread wide by her struggles.

Multiple footsteps pounding up the stairs added to the din but Tony was too preoccupied to acknowledge them.  Unexpectedly there were hands on his back and arms, roughly pulling him back.

“Don’t let her get to the rail,” Tony shouted, refusing to let go.  “She’s trying to jump!”

Kim’s eyes met his and for a split second he saw nothing but calm, cold hate.  “Rape,” she whispered hoarsely.

“What?” Tony exclaimed, releasing her as if he’d been burned.  Stunned, he allowed one of the uniformed policemen to yank him to his feet to stand with his weight unevenly distributed between two steps in the suddenly overcrowded stairwell.

“Rape,” Kim repeated a little louder, hugging herself and using her feet to push back into the corner of the landing.  “Rape!  RAPE!”

“No,” Tony denied, cut off when he was slammed face first into the wall and manhandled into position to be frisked.

“Gun!” the first cop warned his partner and a 9 mil rapidly appeared inches from Tony’s head while his own weapon was stripped away.

“I’m NCIS,” Tony explained to the cement wall.  “Don’t leave her alone,” he added, trying to turn his head enough to make sure Kim was still in the corner.  He couldn’t see her but her screams and sobs and panicked cries of rape helped him to get a fix on her position.

One arm was jerked down and behind his back and Tony felt the cool metal ring of a cuff tighten around his wrist.  He cooperated as best he could when his left arm was pulled down as well and linked to his right.  

“You’re making a mistake,” Tony said.  He attempted to keep a level head when they turned him around and he caught sight of the hysterical, bloody Kimberly, the very epitome of a victim.  “That’s my blood, I didn’t hurt her.”

“Get him out of here,” a female detective ordered the other two cops as she climbed past them towards Kim.  “Hey there,” she said gently as she knelt down in front of her.  On cue, Kimberly turned the tears up a notch.

“Watch her,” Tony warned over his shoulder as he was heavy-handedly assisted down the stairs.  “She’s unstable.”

“Asshole,” the woman muttered, glancing back at him.  By the time she turned back to Kim all traces of the brief spat of remorse were gone.

***  

Kate’s earlier unease returned in spades when she spotted a black and white and an unmarked police car as she pulled into the motel parking lot.  In the distance she could hear an ambulance siren that was quickly getting closer.  She jammed the car into park and left the door open as she sprinted for the lobby.  “NCIS,” she identified herself to the bellhop/handyman who the officers had tasked with watching the door.  

“Sorry, ma’am, the cops said nobody in or out.”

“I’m with them,” Kate insisted, showing her badge.

“Yeah, that fella that chased the girl up the stairs had one of those too.  I hear you can buy ‘em at any good novelty store,” the man replied, clearly unimpressed.

“Just tell me what happened,” Kate pressed, stepping out of range of his foul-smelling breath.

The man’s demeanor shifted from indifference to someone eager to pass on a dirty little secret.  “Well the girl comes runnin’ in, see?  She’s all sweaty and tore up like the devil his self is after her.  We don’t say nothin’ when she slips into the stairwell ‘cause the man rushes in and goes up after her,” he paused as a frazzled tourist approached the door.  “Sorry, sir, I can’t let you in right now.  We’ve got us a little problem,” he explained pointing to the haphazardly parked police cars.

“Come back later,” Kate urged, patiently shooing away the interloper as politely as she could.

“But I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” the man exclaimed.

“There’s a Mexican restaurant right down the road,” the bellhop informed him, waiting a beat for the distressed man to move on before picking the story up right where he left off.  “Anyways, a few minutes later we hear the first scream.  Carla over there called 911 and told ‘em we got a rapist posin’ as a cop in the building.  She wanted me to go up there but I didn’t.  That was a pretty big boy and I ain’t no hero.  But that was okay ‘cause by the time that woman really went to screamin’ the cops was already here.”

“You didn’t hear any gun shots, did you?” Kate asked apprehensively as the ambulance arrived and pulled under the covered drive in front of the check-in area.

“No ma’am, just a whole lotta hollerin’ and carrying on.”

A door inside the lobby opened and Kate could see a cuffed and bleeding DiNozzo being led out by a couple of uniforms.  “Tony!” she called out, pushing her way in.

“Hey!” the impromptu door guard squawked in protest.

“This man is Anthony DiNozzo, he’s an NCIS agent,” Kate informed the policemen, sticking her own badge determinedly in the closest face.  

The other cop opened Tony’s wallet and examined his ID.  “Yeah, that’s what this says, too.”

“That’s what I tried to tell them,” DiNozzo explained, squinting and blinking as a persistent stream of red slowly trickled into his eye.  “Things were a little tense up there.”

“What did they do to you?” Kate questioned, digging a Kleenex out of her pocket and pressing it to his forehead to stem the flow of blood.  “Officers O’Connell and Roth,” she read their nametags accusingly.

“We didn’t put a hand on him,” Roth, the baby-faced cop denied vehemently.

“See?  Appearances _can_ be deceiving,” Tony retorted with a hiss as his overexcited friend pressed a little too hard on his injury.  “Calm down, Kate, these guys are just doing their job.  Kimberly played it up really well.”

“What happened to your face?”

“You-know-who clocked me with her camera.”

An EMT opened the back of the ambulance and started to pull out the stretcher.  “Hold up, Mike,” the older cop, O’Connell yelled through the open lobby door.  “Both subjects are going to be ambulatory I think.”

The paramedic nodded and reached in for a large tackle box instead as his partner joined him and they entered the building together, zeroing in on the blood.  “Have a seat,” Mike instructed Tony, indicating the small, vinyl-covered couch with his hand.  

“Just a sec,” O’Connell said as he fished out his handcuff key.  “If you make a run for it, Mr. NCIS, I am going to shoot you,” he informed DiNozzo as he freed first one hand and then the other.

Kate removed the now sodden tissue and backed away slightly, glaring at the policeman.

Tony laughed as he rubbed his wrists and moved to the couch as requested.  “Who does he remind you of?”

“You?  Or Gibbs,” Kate supplied unhappily.  “I knew this was going to happen.”

Tony winced at Kate’s words or the gloved fingers probing around his wound or possibly a combination of the two.  “You can tell me I told you so later, okay?”

“I will,” Kate agreed solemnly, looking grateful when the EMT relieved her of the bloody mess in her hand.  “What happened?”

“Do I need to read him his rights?” the rookie cop asked, looking to his partner for guidance.

“Am I still under arrest?” Tony asked in surprise.

“Technically, yeah,” O’Connell persisted, “At least until we can get to the station and sort this whole thing out.”

“Did you lose consciousness?” Mike inquired as the other paramedic took Tony’s blood pressure.

“No,” DiNozzo denied, flinching as the man shined a light in first one eye and then the other.

“Any nausea?  Dizziness?”

“No, just a little headache.”

“Is he gonna live?” O’Connell asked dryly.

“He needs a couple stitches, but it can wait a few hours,” Mike decided as he applied a small pressure dressing to the wound then peeled off his gloves.  “You want a wet wipe?” he asked Tony as he dug out a round plastic canister and popped the top.

“Yeah, thanks,” Tony replied, tugging one out to clean his hands.

“Can I just…” Kate motioned to the container and took one as well at Mike’s nod.  “Hold still, DiNozzo, you’re a mess.”

Tony grumbled a protest under his breath but allowed Kate her aberrant foray into over-protectiveness, shooting a sheepish look in the cops’ direction as she quickly cleaned his face.

“Feel better now?” Tony groused.

“Actually, I do.  Thank you,” she muttered to the grinning medic who offered her another wipe for her own stained fingers.  When she finished, he took both of the soiled ones, as well as Tony’s, and disposed of them in the same red bag where the tissue had gone.

“How sweet,” O’Connell commented drolly.  “You want to go to the hospital or the station?”

“Station,” Tony said decisively as he got to his feet with a nod of gratitude to the EMTs.  “Let’s get this over with.”

The veteran officer fingered his handcuffs for a minute before putting them away.  “In the interest of inter-departmental cooperation…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I’ll be good,” DiNozzo promised as he allowed Roth to take him by the elbow and steer him out past the smirking bellhop.

“You have the right to remain silent…”

“Tony,” Kate interrupted as she followed them, shooting a dirty look at the motel employee.  “Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the hospital first?”

“I’m fine, Kate.  But I’d appreciate it if you’d to go to the ER and keep an eye on Kimberly.  Push for a psych eval.  I think she’s suicidal.”

“I should come with you,” Kate argued, following them out into the parking lot.  

“No offense, Kate, but I’d rather have Gibbs down at the station,” Tony requested as they reached the car and the back door was opened for him.

“Yeah, okay,” Kate gave in reluctantly as he ducked inside, knowing as well as Tony did that Gibbs had far better contacts within the police department than she did.  “I’ll call him.”

“Can I finish please?” Roth requested irritably as he joined DiNozzo in the car.

“Knock yourself out, rookie.”

“God help me if I should ever have a female partner,” O’Connell declared as he got in on the driver’s side and started the car.

Kate resisted the urge to tell him off and hit speed dial instead.  As the car pulled away Tony waved at her and smiled reassuringly but she was sure he was faking it.

“Gibbs,” came the answer on the first ring, a sure sign he was still wrapped up in a boring meeting.

“Gibbs!  They’ve arrested Tony,” Kate explained rapidly.  “I think Kimberly Gordon played the sexual assault card.”

“Where’d they take him?”

“To the local precinct… Gibbs?”  Kate glanced down at her phone in disbelief.  “He hung up on me.”

When she raised her head, the paramedics were already at the back of the ambulance putting away their gear.  Kimberly walked out of the building on her own with a motel bedspread wrapped around her shoulders.  She was disheveled and had streaks of dried blood on her face and in her hair but otherwise appeared unharmed and chillingly composed.  A middle-aged black woman with a gold shield and a gun on her belt escorted her while keeping a wary distance.  

“Kimberly,” Kate greeted coldly, earning an odd look from the policewoman.

Kim ignored her and moved straight to the ambulance.  “Don’t touch me,” she warned Mike as she climbed in.

“I know.  You don’t have to tell me twice,” Mike replied as he followed her inside.  “You coming with?” he turned to ask the detective.

“She’ll be okay, I’ll meet you there.”

Kate waited until the doors were closed before turning to the other woman.  “I’m Agent Todd, NCIS.  I have some information you might find helpful.”

“Detective Hampton,” the cop introduced herself, accepting Kate’s outstretched hand for a firm shake.

Kim leaned forward and glowered through the back window, never taking her eyes off them as the ambulance pulled out.

“That’s one strange cookie,” Hampton replied, shaking her head.  “I’m beginning to think there’s more to this than meets the eye.  You want to ride with me?  We can talk on the way.”

“Um, one thing first,” Kate replied as she looked back towards the lobby.  “Tony said Kimberly threw her camera at him.  Did anyone recover it?”

“That’s the first I’ve heard about a camera.”

“Let’s see if we can find it,” Kate suggested, leading the way back inside.

Hampton checked her watch and followed.  “Make it quick.  That girl’s gonna run if I don’t get there soon.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

Captain Bill Haverstad got a glimpse of gray hair determinedly moving down the hall and knew the moment he’d been dreading had arrived far sooner than he would have thought possible.  “Gibbs,” he called, rushing out to run interference for his own team.

Gibbs stopped dead in the middle of the busy hallway and spun on him.  “You’ve got one of mine and you didn’t call me?”

“Easy, Jethro,” Haverstad placated.  “He’s only been in the building for fifteen minutes and well, you’re already here.”  

A slight narrowing of the piercing blue eyes was his only answer.  

“I was picking up the phone to call when I spotted you tearing down the hall like a cruise missile.  You can’t blame me for this.  Blame your boy for getting in over his head.”

“What’s he charged with?” Gibbs inquired icily.

“Nothing at the moment,” Haverstad supplied spreading his hands in a reassuring gesture, “The girl’s not talking other than the initial accusation and I thought we should get his side before things went too far.  He hasn’t even been booked yet.”

“Where is he?” Gibbs asked, his tone a little less hostile.

“They’ve got him down in interrogation,” Haverstad started, stopped by Gibbs renewed glare.  “I didn’t want to put him in a holding cell, all right?” he hastened to add.

“I want to see him.  Now.”

“He waved his rights to an attorney and he’s already giving his statement.  Let him finish before you go busting in like the cavalry.”

“That all depends on what I see when I get there,” Gibbs advised as he altered his course for the closest elevators.

“You’re walking a fine line, Gibbs,” Haverstad warned as he followed, dodging the slower moving traffic along the corridor.

“We’re talking about a man’s career here,” Gibbs countered, stopping only when he reached his goal.

Haverstad caught up, breathing heavier than he should have been, deciding maybe he should get out from behind his desk more often.  “Don’t expect any special treatment if he’s guilty…”

“He’s not guilty.”

“You don’t know what happened.”

“No, but I do know DiNozzo,” Gibbs assured as he pressed the down button.

***

Kate paced the hall still clutching the evidence bag with the shattered camera in it, exchanging occasional glances with Detective Hampton as she used a corner of the nurse’s station to write up what little of her report she could.  Finally the door she’d been watching opened and a physician came out.

“Well?” Kate asked as she cut off the woman’s retreat, aware of the detective arriving beside her.

“She doesn’t appear to be in any physical distress,” the doctor responded in the vaguest of terms, “but it’s hard to tell since she won’t let us touch her.  I honestly don’t think she’s hurt.  Her clothes are intact even though there’s a lot of dried blood on her upper body.  But as I understand from the paramedic’s report her attacker was injured and I’m assuming the blood is his.”

Bristling, Kate took a deep breath to calm down and not defend Tony.  “But you can’t prove or disprove anything if she won’t consent to an examination.”

“That’s right.  At this point a rape kit is out of the question.  She’s even refusing to talk to a rape crisis counselor but her behavior is not uncommon for someone who’s been traumatized.  She may change her mind later.”

“Is she suicidal?”

The ER doc pushed a white strand of hair out of her eyes.  “It’s hard to say, but I am going to call for a psychiatric consult.”

“Doesn’t she still have to give her consent?” Detective Hampton asked.

“Not if someone is willing to involuntarily commit her.”

“Who can do that?”  Kate asked, whipping out her phone.

“Sorry, no cell phones in the hospital,” the doctor hastened to explain.  “They work on the same frequency as the cardiac monitors and cause interference.  In fact, we had to take Miss Gordon’s phone away because she insists on repeatedly calling someone.”

“Really,” Kate noted with interest.

“But to answer your question any family member can request an involuntary commitment.  Barring that a judge or a physician can do it.”

“Thank you,” Kate exclaimed, moving towards a phone on the wall.  “Do you think we can get a regular phone for Miss Gordon?  I’d be very interested to find out who she calls.”

“You think she’s calling your partner,” Hampton surmised.  “Even thought she’s allegedly been raped by him.”

“I’d bet a month’s salary on it,” Kate declared as she punched Gibbs’ number into the hospital phone.

***

Gibbs glanced at the unfamiliar number as they entered the anteroom to view DiNozzo’s statement.  “That better not be blood,” he warned Haverstad, noting the dark stains on Tony’s jacket and the bandage on his head.  “Gibbs,” he answered his call.

“How’s Tony?” Kate’s worried voice asked.

“He looks okay.  I haven’t spoken with him yet.  Where are you?”

“I’m at the ER with Kimberly Gordon.  She’s refusing treatment.”

“Of course she is,” Gibbs sighed.  “With no exam it comes down to her word against his.  Sometimes an accusation is all it takes.”

“She’s asking for a phone.”

Gibbs snorted in amusement.  “Can we get DiNozzo’s cell down here?” he asked Haverstad.

“Why?” Haverstad balked.  

“To help prove the so-called victim is unstable,” Gibbs pressed before getting back to Kate.  “Stall for a few minutes then let her have one and call me back with the number.”

“No problem,” Kate agreed happily before hanging up.

“What are you up to?” Haverstad questioned suspiciously.

“Watch and learn, my friend, watch and learn,” Gibbs turned his attention to the one-way mirror.

***

“So you followed a female suspect into a confined space without backup?”

Tony sighed as he toyed with his half-empty cup of coffee.  “She wasn’t a suspect and I didn’t know the door at the top of the stairs was going to be locked.”

“But you didn’t turn back when you found out, you cornered the poor girl.”

“It wasn’t like that.  I just wanted to talk to her.”

“Because she’s been harassing you.”

“Yes.”

“In fact she’s been bothering you for a couple of weeks what with the phone calls and following you around.  What’d you do?  Have a little fun and then dump her?”

“We never even went out.”

“You said you gave her your number.”

“We _never_ went out,” DiNozzo repeated evenly.

“Maybe when you finally had her trapped you took the opportunity to teach her a little lesson.”

“Oh please,” Tony grumbled with a roll of his eyes, finally giving in to the goading.  “Is that what you would do?”

“O’Connell says the woman was terrified.  After they physically pulled you off her…”

“She was trying to jump.”

“…she cowered in the corner screaming rape…”

“She was lying.”

“…covered in blood!”

“My blood!” Tony emphasized, pounding the table twice with his index finger.  “If anyone attacked anyone, she attacked me.  At that point I was trying to save her life!”

The door burst open and Gibbs entered the room.  “This isn’t a statement, Haverstad, this is an interrogation.  Didn’t anyone ever teach you guys the difference?”

“Captain,” the detective complained to his supervisor.  “We’re just gettin’ started.”

“Take a break,” Haverstad ordered briskly.  “No, wait.  Run over and get Agent DiNozzo’s cell phone from his personal effects first.  Have them call me if they give you any flack.”

The cop hesitated before scowling at Gibbs and heading out.

“You’ve got five minutes,” Haverstad granted, pulling the door closed as he exited.

“Hi, Boss,” DiNozzo greeted meekly, not especially surprised how fast Gibbs had arrived.

“In deference to the head wound, I’m not gonna smack you this time,” Gibbs replied magnanimously as he took the seat on the opposite side of the table and leaned forward to pull back the edge of the dressing to take a peek.  “I do however owe you one.”

“Thank you,” DiNozzo uttered with a grimace as Gibbs pressed the bandage back in place zealously.  “I’m, ah, I’m really sorry about all this.”

Gibbs sighed and ran a hand down his face.  “I’m not blaming you, for the most part.  I should have stepped in sooner.  I knew that woman was trouble; I just didn’t have anything tangible to back it up with.  I spoke with Tom Morrow this morning.”

“What did he say?”

“He realized the first week when she started disappearing that something was up.  When he got tired of answering his own phone he put in for a replacement.  He hadn’t told her yet mostly because she was never at her desk long enough.”

“Well I certainly understand that,” Tony agreed.  

“That was a bone headed move at the motel, DiNozzo.  What the hell were you thinking?”

Tony blew out a long breath.  “Look Boss, I knew she was a little… off.  But up to this point she hadn’t done anything violent and I thought this whole thing was because she liked me too much anyway.  I never dreamed she’d pull this crap.”

“Excuse me?” Gibbs queried sarcastically.  “Didn’t you _just_ tell her you weren’t interested in a relationship with her?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well there ya go.  Hell hath no fury like a crazy woman scorned.”

Tony managed a wry smile as he lifted his Styrofoam cup to his lips.  “Spoken like a man with three ex-wives.”

***

Kimberly stopped pacing long enough to open the door a crack and peek down the corridor.  As she suspected Todd was still at the nurses’ station talking to the police detective.  

“Damn it,” Kim swore, wishing she’d made an attempt to connect with the other woman before Todd had poisoned her mind against her.  Obviously she’d made a grave error in judgment.  She would have to figure out some way to undo the damage, deciding on a tearful heart to heart with Hampton at the next available opportunity.

She closed the door and took three steps back to the exam table, flexing her hands over and over again.  Even as she pictured Tony in a jail cell her fingers itched to call him.  Substituting one compulsion for another Kim busied her hands by tearing the paper liner on the table into tiny shreds.  The action calmed her nerves and she could finally think.

_“You know what comes next.”_

“I can handle the shrink,” Kimberly replied offhandedly.  She had lots of experience telling people what they wanted to hear.  All she had to do was hold it together until she could get out of this place.  There was no way she’d let them lock her up.  She needed to call Tony.

A knock startled her out of her thoughts.  “Yes?” she called out, standing in front of her telltale confetti to hide it as the door opened.

“Miss Gordon?  The doctor says you can make your phone call now,” the heavyset nurse informed her.

“Thank you.”  Kim followed the bigger woman to the nearest wall phone.  “I’ll just be a minute,” she dismissed her.

“Sure.  Just dial nine for an outside line,” the nurse supplied as she walked away.  

Looking around for the audience she was certain she’d find she spotted Detective Hampton standing at one of the registration desks.  But Todd was nowhere in sight even though Kim knew her adversary wouldn’t be far; watching her, listening to her every word.  With shaky hands she punched in a series of numbers and pulled the phone to her ear.

“Momma,” she said softly when her call was answered.

***

“She called her mother,” DiNozzo muttered in disbelief for the third time as he fingered his still silent cell phone.  

“Yeah,” Gibbs replied, his jaw set.  “You know, she may be psychotic, but she’s not stupid.”

“She is a world class manipulator, that’s for sure.  Hell, _I_ would have arrested me from the performance she gave.”

“I just talked to my detective at the hospital,” Haverstad commented from the door, overhearing the end of the conversation as he arrived.

Gibbs glanced at Tony and turned in his chair to face the police captain.  “And?”

“Miss Gordon’s not ready to press charges yet.  She says she wants to think about it overnight and then give her statement in the morning.”

“What’s to think about?” Gibbs questioned.  “Either he did it or he didn’t.”

“She says she’s concerned there might be repercussions on her job,” Haverstad explained.

“Repercussions my ass,” Gibbs disputed, getting to his feet.  “She knows she was already in trouble at work.”

“World class,” Tony repeated as he followed his boss’ lead and grabbed his ruined sports coat off the back of the chair.

“We’re outta here,” Gibbs announced, daring Haverstad to make something of it.  “Come on, DiNozzo, you’ve got a date with a coroner.”

“For what?”

“Ducky needs to practice his suturing skills.  He hardly ever gets to work on moving targets.”

“Oh joy,” Tony deadpanned.

Haverstad allowed Gibbs to pass but reached across the door to prevent Tony from leaving.  “You know how this works; don’t leave town and don’t go near Kimberly Gordon.”

DiNozzo snorted insolently.  “Believe me, Captain, the last person I want to see right now is Kimberly.”

Gibbs glanced coldly at Haverstad’s hand then slowly moved his gaze up to his face.  Even though he was standing at an angle and missed the full effect, Haverstad lowered his arm and let Tony slide by him.  

***

“I’m going to let her go,” the psychiatrist announced when he finally came out of Kimberly’s room.  

“Are you sure?” Kate objected.  “My partner thinks she might be suicidal.”

“Is that right?  Just which medical school did your partner go to?”

Kate flushed at the rejoinder but stood her ground.  “He witnessed her try to jump over a second story railing.”

“Someone who actually wanted to die would have gone much higher than that,” the doctor replied, far from convinced.  “From what I can tell, this woman suffered a severe emotional trauma but I believe she’s coping very well.”

“You think so?” Hampton asked in shock.

“Detective, there are no hard and fast rules for victims.  Behaviors are as varied as people themselves in these situations.  This young woman just wants her mother.  I think that’s very reasonable,” he added as he walked away.

“Idiot,” Hampton muttered to his back.

“I need to warn Tony,” Kate said, moving toward the phone.  

“You know, you were wrong about her, too,” the detective said, stopping Kate in her tracks.  “If I was a betting woman you’d be out a month’s pay.”

“She’ll call him again,” Kate insisted.  “I know she will, I don’t care what she says he did to her.”

“We’ll see.  I’m going to hang around and offer her a ride.  Maybe she’ll open up on the way.”

Kim stepped out of the room and focused immediately on Kate.  “That’s mine,” she said quietly, looking at the camera.

“It’s evidence,” Hampton told her.  “But I’ll be taking it now.”

“Not if I don’t press charges,” Kim replied.  “I told you I haven’t decided.”

“Kimberly, it won’t be admissible if you take possession of it before they can examine it,” Kate tried to explain.

“I don’t care.  It’s mine and I want it back.”

“No problem,” Kate smiled tightly, handing the large bag over.

“I’m going to sign myself out,” Kim declared to no one in particular as she wandered down the hall.

Hampton shrugged and followed.  Kate watched them go as she dropped the second, much smaller evidence bag into her pocket.

***

“Ow,” Tony complained, pulling back as Ducky methodically cleaned his wound.

“I haven’t done anything worthy of an ‘Ow’ as of yet,” Ducky sighed dramatically.  “Honestly, Tony, I thought you would be tougher than this.”

Tony tried to suck it up and hold still, but the cold of the metal table was already leeching up through his clothes.  “My ass is cold,” he complained.  “Are you sure you don’t have any of that numbing stuff?”

“Now why would I keep a local anesthetic in my line of work?”

“Gibbs says you’ve stitched him up lots of times.”

Ducky chortled fondly as he put away the peroxide and brandished a suture.  “Indeed, I have.  But Jethro never asked for an anesthetic.”

“Really,” DiNozzo said thoughtfully, trying harder to lie still as Ducky knew he would.  He closed his eyes as the needle came closer.

“I once had the unwanted attentions of a femme fatale,” the old man waxed poetic as he punctured the skin and pulled the silky strand through one side and then the other before swiftly knotting it off.

“Is that so,” Tony replied through gritted teeth.  “Tell me about her.”

“Ah, Marie.  She was a buxom young stripper who lived near the flat I rented as I summered in London in ’64,” Ducky supplied happily as he clipped the excess.  “Or was it ’65?”

“Buxom, huh?”

“Quite.  In those days there was never any question of surgical enhancement.  That’s one,” he announced proudly as he studied his handiwork.  “Four more I think.”

“Four!” Tony protested, losing his battle to be brave about it.  “The ambulance guy said ‘ _a couple_ ’.  Even I know ‘ _a couple_ ’ is two!”

“I can practically guarantee there will be no scar with five stitches, otherwise,” Ducky shrugged to indicate the situation was completely out of his hands.  

“Scars are cool,” Tony decided hastily.  “Some women actually like scars.  In fact, they’re better than tattoos.”

“It would be a shame to mar such perfect skin,” Ducky balked.  “You have extraordinarily tight pores.”

“I do?”

“Who knows skin better than Ducky?” Gibbs mocked with a grin as he entered the room.  “Of course the skin he deals with is mostly blue... ish.”

Not wanting to look like a wimp in front of Gibbs, Tony sullenly consented.  “All right, four more.”

“Kate’s on her way in,” Gibbs replied unhappily.  “They let Gordon go so I want you to be with someone at all times until we get this thing settled.  I don’t want her to get another shot at framing you.”

Tony tried to nod but Ducky was already moving in for another stitch.  “What did your femme fatale do to you, Ducky?”

“Yes, well, Marie was a sweet girl actually, but she took to leaving me lurid love letters on my door. Relax your face, Anthony, or the sutures will pucker,” Ducky admonished as the second stitch went in.

“Love notes?  That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tony fought his grimace.

“Not if she had used paper, no.  Unfortunately, she chose to carve her annotations into the wood…”

Gibbs shook his head and retreated.

“OW!”

 


	4. Chapter 4

Kimberly let herself into the small townhouse, never once looking back at the police car she had arrived in.  Depositing the broken camera on the table in the foyer she moved into the living room directly to the fireplace.  Plucking the first photograph off the mantle she ran her fingers over the frame as she studied the faces of the two little girls dispassionately.

“Cindy!” an older woman exclaimed as she entered the room, cheerfully removing the photo from Kim’s grasp and wiping it furiously with a dust rag.  “I was so happy when you called.  You never visit.”  She carefully positioned the frame back to the exact place it had been moved from.  

“I’m Kimberly, Momma.”

“Look at you.  You’re a mess,” her mother reproached lightly as she bent to wipe up an imaginary spot on the gleaming hardwood floor.  

“I met a man,” Kim started to explain.

Momma straightened abruptly, her merry disposition fading away.  “What have I told you about men?”

“They’ll only hurt me,” Kim parroted back obediently.  

“That’s right.  You‘ll do well to remember that, young lady.  Now let’s get you cleaned up before you soil the furniture.”  Momma led the way back into the foyer without ever once touching her daughter.  “Let’s go, Cynthia,” she ordered over her shoulder, collecting the camera before climbing the stairs.

Kim swallowed and blinked back tears.  “I’m Kimberly,” she whispered to the empty room.

***

“Gibbs wants us in the bullpen for a confab ASAP,” Abby broadcasted as soon as she entered the morgue.  “Tony, are you okay?” She rushed to the side of the autopsy table and helped her pallid, shaky friend into a sitting position.

“Super,” Tony retorted dryly as he latched onto her elbow for support.  “Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’re kinda green.”

Ducky tsk tsked as he went about cleaning up his mess.  “Better green than blue on this table.”

“Way,” Abby agreed with a spirited nod.

Tony blinked his eyes and tried to clear his head without physically moving it too much.  After a minute Abby helped him stand.  “Thanks, Abs,” he muttered, still slightly leaning on her.

“Ahem.”

“And thank you, Doctor Mallard,” Tony hastened to add properly, even if it was with less than heartfelt gratitude.

“You’re very welcome, Tony.  I do so enjoy a challenge.”

Ignoring the jibe, Tony gathered his grubby coat from the foot of the table and looked at it for a moment.  “Do you mind if I put this in with the bio-waste?” he asked Ducky with an underlying tone of disgust.

“Don’t throw it out!” Abby objected.  “I love that jacket.  It makes you look very James Bond.”

“It’s ruined,” Tony pointed out, showing it to her.

“Here, give it to me,” Abby instructed, snapping on the latex she pulled out of her pocket.  “I can work _miracles_ with bloodstains.”

DiNozzo stared at her blankly as she took the garment from him.  “I don’t want to know, do I?”

Abby shrugged and smiled at him innocently before dropping her gaze to the dark tweed.  “Um, Tony?  Kate wants to prove that Kimberly Gordon has pre-existing psychiatric problems, doesn’t she?”

“I guess.”

“So wouldn’t the presence of certain medications in Kimberly’s system indicate she was under the care of a psychiatrist?”

“Indeed they would,” Ducky agreed, “Provided of course she was actually taking any medication.”

“She wasn’t.  Kimberly had a drug screen about six weeks ago that was negative.”

“Sure, but urine is limited to the metabolic half-life of a drug.  On the other hand, hair stores a record of drug use in its core for up to 90 days,” Abby decreed as she pulled off several dish-water blonde strands that were stuck together in the dry blood.  

Ducky adjusted his glasses and moved forward to examine the clump as Abby held it up for him.  “The root bulbs are intact.  I’d say these were traumatically extracted during the physical altercation.”

“Okay,” Tony reasoned, working out a time line.  “To get her promotion Kim knows she’s gonna have to take a piss test and a month out she stops whatever medication she’s been on.  Add the six weeks that have passed since then and already we have ten weeks.  That’s only a twenty-day window, give or take.  What if she stopped her meds before that?”

“Unlikely,” Ducky surmised.  “Using her recent behavior as an indicator the return of her symptoms probably correlates to the depleting level of medication in her system.  The therapeutic effects of most anti-psychotic drugs build up over a four to six-week period and wan just as slowly.  Surely she wouldn’t have been advanced to the Director’s office if she’d been behaving erratically before now.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Abby encouraged, bouncing with barely controlled enthusiasm.  “I can set up a GC/MS as soon as Gibbs is done with us.”

“A… what?” Tony prodded, rolling his hand.

“A gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry hair analysis.  It’ll only take about 40 minutes.”

“I knew that.  Abby, you’re the best,” Tony declared, kissing her on the cheek.

“I know,” Abby preened.  

“Ahem.”

“You, too, Ducky,” DiNozzo added dutifully, earning a contented smile from the older man.  “We’d better get down there.”

***

Kim sat gingerly on the edge of the bed in a heavily bleached and starched housecoat that irritated her pink, over-scrubbed skin and cried.  She felt violated by Momma’s invasive and often painful cleansing routine that hadn’t changed since as far back as she could remember.  The loss of her identity every time she entered her mother’s home was merely an added indignity to the lack of any real connection with her own flesh and blood, but one that made her bitter and angry all the same.  

She tried to remember the feel of Tony’s hand on her back as he comforted her the day they had met, but images of Kate Todd and the black-haired girl in the park wouldn’t let her focus.  The almost overwhelming need to destroy something was checked by the fear of her dominating mother and she wondered again why she had come here.  But she realized she’d had no choice.  Forced into a corner by Todd and the nosy police detective, they had robbed her of the tenuous control she’d had over her emotions.

Aware that nothing short of an earthquake could tear Momma away from scouring out the tub, Kim knew she still had a few minutes.  Almost of its own accord, her hand reached for the phone she wasn’t allowed to touch.

***

“Tony, you look like death warmed over,” Kate greeted as she arrived, dropping off her backpack before joining the meeting in progress around DiNozzo’s desk.

“Considering who my doctor is, that’s not too far off,” Tony responded with a smirk, leaning back in his chair.

“Abby, I have something for you.”  Kate pulled out the small evidence bag and handed it over.

“What is it?” Gibbs asked with a nod towards the object.

“Looks like a 128 meg memory card,” Abby replied offhandedly as she examined the piece of hardware through the clear plastic bag.  “It’s bent.”

“Well the camera it fell out of bounced off Tony’s head and down a couple flights of concrete stairs.”

“Mmm,” Gibbs agreed, “Tony does have a hard head.  Can you do anything with it?”

“Of course,” Abby assured.

DiNozzo shot Gibbs a wounded look before turning to Kate.  “They let her go?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Kate muttered gloomily.  “But Detective Hampton hand delivered her to her mother’s house in Mount Pleasant so at least she’s not alone if she’s still suicidal.”

Tony nodded his understanding.

“What did I miss?”

“Abby can catch you up later while the two of you are checking out what’s on that memory card,” Gibbs decided.  “Go ahead and give us what you’ve got on Gordon’s background.”

“Okay, I did an in-depth background check on her a couple days ago,” Kate responded, leaning against Tony’s desk as she pulled out her PDA and tapped rapidly on the screen with the stylus until she got to the page she needed.  “Kimberly Lynn Gordon started at NCIS in an entry level position straight out of college eight years ago and until recently had never taken the opportunity to advance.”

“Why not?” Gibbs cut in.

“No ambition maybe?  Her job performance evaluations were all just adequate.  She came to work every day and did the minimum that was expected of her but not much else.  For the most part, she kept to herself.  Her co-workers admitted to not knowing her very well and considered her to be stand-offish.  One girl who worked in the same office for a year and a half didn’t even know who I was talking about.”

“That’s just sad,” Abby responded sympathetically.

“Now Abigail, we can’t all be sparkling personalities,” Ducky soothed.

“Apparently Kim got the recent promotion by a combination of tenure, timing and luck.  No one else was available to cover for the director’s secretary while she would have been on maternity leave and then she had an accident that turned the temp job into something more permanent.”

“What about her personal history?” Gibbs cut to the chase.

“This is where things get interesting.  Kimberly’s mother was diagnosed years ago with ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with poor insight’ and has spent years in and out of various institutions,” Kate reported.

“Aw yes, OCD, not to be confused with Obsessive Compulsive _Personality_ Disorder which has a completely dissimilar set of symptoms, is believed to be caused by the failure of the orbital cortex to communicate properly with the basal ganglia due to a decreased level of serotonin…”

“Later, Ducky,” Gibbs requested shortly.

Ducky drew up, obviously offended.  “I was merely going to point out that OCD has a distinct tendency to run in families.  Although the general nature is inherited, the specific symptoms are frequently different in the affected offspring.”

“Oh,” Gibbs relented.  “That information is actually useful.  Now, in very short sentences, what are the symptoms of OCD?”

“Mental hiccups,” Ducky responded succinctly.

“Feel free to elaborate for me,” Tony requested, earning a hard glare from Gibbs.  “I didn’t understand what he meant by mental hiccups,” he explained petulantly.

“I’ll keep it brief, Jethro,” Ducky huffed in a sullen tone.  “The unfortunate individual gets stuck on one image, idea, or impulse which is the obsession.  The compulsion is an act they perform repeatedly to relieve the obsession such as washing or checking or touching or counting…”

“Or dialing…” Tony put in.

“Quite,” Ducky consented.  “Most patients are aware of their problems and are distressed by them.  Kimberly’s mother is not, thus the ‘with poor insight’ part of her diagnosis.  The condition cannot be cured, but with proper medication and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy it can be controlled.”

“Kate,” Gibbs appealed quickly, before Ducky could get wound up again.  “What else?”

“Well here’s your clichéd childhood trauma part, Tony,” Kate replied.  “Kimberly’s father abandoned her and her mother after Kim’s younger sister died in a mysterious drowning accident at the age of four.”

“That’d do it,” Tony agreed as his cell phone began to ring.  Every eye was on him as he checked the display.  “I don’t recognize the number.”

“I do.  It’s Mount Pleasant,” Kate responded, once again clicking impatiently on her PDA.  “It’s her,” she confirmed.

“Answer it so it’ll go on the log,” Gibbs ordered.  

Tony sighed and did as he was told.  “Hello, Kimberly.”  He was surprised when the call wasn’t immediately terminated.  “Kim?” he asked when he heard quiet sniffling.  “Are you crying?”

“Send a black and white to that address immediately,” Gibbs whispered to Kate who moved back to her desk to grab her own phone.

“Kim?  Did you hurt yourself?” Tony questioned gently, trying not to scare her off.

“No,” came the whispered reply, the first word she’d ever spoken to him over the phone.

“Are you alright?”

“I have to go,” Kim said softly and hung up.

“Just when I was getting used to the rules,” Tony muttered in worried frustration.

***

“So then I said ‘Look, Kim, if that is your _real_ name…’”

Kate glanced up from the monitor and frowned at Abby’s words as a thought struck her.

“… and the girl went off!  She started swearing and calling me every name in the book.”

“Did she threaten you?” Ducky asked with concern.

Abby paused and shrugged sheepishly.  “I’m not sure.  By that time I was a little wrapped up in something else.”

Clearing her throat, Kate tapped the screen to draw Ducky’s attention to the row after row of thumbnails that showed exactly who Abby was wrapped up in.

“Ah ha.”

Halting her roaming reenactment of the scene at the park, Abby leaned over Kate’s shoulder for a closer examination.  “Tony does sort of look like a psycho rapist in this one, doesn’t he?  I’m gonna print it out as a personal keepsake.”

“While you’re at it, get one of these for me,” Kate requested, pointing to a picture of Tony talking with his mouth full.  “I need it for exhibit A the next time he says he doesn’t do that.”

“It’s amazing how many photographs that disturbed young woman took in only two weeks,” Ducky noted, standing at Kate’s other shoulder.

“Two days,” Abby corrected, scrolling back to the top of the screen to point at the first picture.  “This is what Tony was wearing day before yesterday.”

“You keep up with what Tony wears every day?” Kate asked.

“I keep up with what _everyone_ wears every day,” Abby supplied with an evil grin.

“Oh,” Kate replied, self-consciously smoothing down her sweater with the recycled shirt underneath.

“She must have had the camera set for the lowest resolution because this card is only half full and there are nearly four hundred pictures on it.  Plus, the quality is pretty bad.”

“If she’s had the camera for about a week and we can guesstimate eight hundred pictures every four days,” Kate sighed.  “That’s a lot of Tony.”

The glass door whooshed open and the object of their discussion came through in a clean tee-shirt and sweats, toweling his hair dry.  “Oh good, you got the stuff off the memory stick.  Did we get results from the drug analysis?” he asked.

“We’ll know in a few,” Abby assured, checking her watch.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Anthony, but did I not specifically instruct you to avoid getting your stitches wet?”

Tony froze in mid-motion and lowered the towel to rest around his neck.  “Sorry, Ducky, I forgot.  Besides, Gibbs ordered me to take a shower.  He said Kate didn’t do a good enough job bathing me at the motel.”

“What?” Kate squawked as Ducky and Abs exchanged raised eyebrows and knowing glances.  “I can’t believe you told him about that.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Tony defended himself.  “You know how he is.  He finds out about everything.”

“Where is he now?”

“He went to the cop-shop to check out the situation.  Hampton went to get Kimberly.  She’s bringing her back to the local precinct.”

“What’s the word on psycho-babe?”

“Her name is Kimberly,” Tony corrected with a slightly exasperated tone.

“Okay,” Abby surrendered, raising her hands. “Why are you suddenly so sensitive for _Kimberly_?”

“Yeah, especially after what she pulled today,” Kate jumped in to back Abby up.

Tony sighed guiltily and looked away.  “I don’t know, I sort of feel responsible for all this I suppose.”

“No, Tony, don’t you dare,” Kate rebuked.  “You didn’t do anything to Kimberly that you don’t do to a half-dozen other women every day… including Abby and me.  It’s annoying as hell, but it’s just you and we’ve all learned to live with it.”

“You’re just a natural born flirt,” Abby agreed.  “I guess we’re gonna have to register that smile of yours as a lethal weapon.  Or maybe tattoo a health warning on your forehead for those frail of heart.”

Tony looked to the ceiling and shook his head.

“You had no way of knowing Kimberly couldn’t take the full force of your questionable charms,” Kate added as she got out of her chair.  “Cut yourself a break.”

“Are you going home?” Tony asked, quickly taking Kate’s seat in front of the computer before she could change her mind.

“Not yet,” Kate explained as she moved out the door.  “I’ll be at my desk. Abby gave me an idea.”

“I did?  Cool.  So, what is going on with Kim-ber-ly?” Abby enunciated each syllable carefully as she turned back to Tony.

DiNozzo make a face as he rubbed his head just above the injury and started to study the photos.  “There was a domestic disturbance in progress when the cops got there.  Apparently, Kim was trying to get out of the house in nothing but a robe while her mother beat the crap out of her with a telephone, providing yet more evidence for Kate’s clichéd theory of trauma and abuse.”  

“That’s odd, I didn’t believe violent behavior to be a usual symptom of OCD,” Ducky pondered.

“Ducky, some people are just plain mean with or without psychological problems,” Tony responded unhappily.  “Anyway, they arrested Mommy Dearest and she’ll probably get a first-class ticket to the back to loony bin.  Kim called Detective Hampton to come get her because she couldn’t think of anyone else but me.  Under the circumstances, the officer at the scene didn’t think that was a good idea once he got the facts.  They said Kim was an emotional wreck.”

“Aw Tony,” Abby commiserated as she rubbed his shoulders under the damp towel.  “I can’t stand to see you this way.  Kim will be okay eventually.  But she’s sick and she needs help.  You can’t take this personally.”

“It’s not just that.  I hate for this to happen so close on the heels of my other little debacle.”

“You mean bringing in Mr. Hoity-Toity in cuffs?  Please.  Gibbs might have been all ‘bad, Tony, bad’ on the outside, but on the inside he was all ‘that’s m’boy’.”

Tony finally smiled.  “You think so?

“I know so.”

“Hey Abs, can I get an eight by ten glossy of this one?” Tony asked pointing out a particularly attractive shot.

***

“Kate?” Gibbs asked as he exited the elevator into the bullpen carrying two pizza boxes with a large take out coffee on top.  “You on to something?”

“Maybe,” Kate replied distractedly as she scanned her screen.  “Give me another minute.”

Gibbs carefully deposited the boxes on the nearest reasonably empty surface, which happened to be Tony’s desk, then picked up the phone.  “Everybody in the lab?”

“Uh huh.”

Gibbs dialed and Abby answered on the first ring.  “You got me.”

“Pizza,” Gibbs said simply and then hung up before taking his coffee and retreating to his own desk.  “Detective Hampton is taking Kimberly Gordon’s statement now.  Apparently the run in with her mother loosened her tongue,” he provided.  “I wish we had taken some pictures before because now she’s black and blue.”

“That’s terrible,” Kate winced, finally printing what she needed and logging off.  “I can’t believe it’s after ten.  Abby should have the hair analysis by now.”

“What’d you find?”

“Well Abby gave me the idea that maybe Kimberly was using an alias.”

“No way,” Gibbs disagreed.  “They absolutely would have found that out when they did her background check.”

“You’re right about that and I even double checked, she is Kimberly Gordon.  But most places don’t have the resources we have.”

“True.”

“So I got to thinking, what if her psychiatric care has been under an assumed name?” Kate proposed.  “Chances are no one would have questioned her.”

“You think she bought documentation?” Gibbs asked, considering the possibility.

“She didn’t have to,” Kate answered mysteriously.  “When I did my first checks on Kim I kept running across records for a Cynthia Gordon.”

“Let me guess.  Cynthia was Kimberly’s four-year-old sister.”

“Yep.  There was barely an eighteen-month difference in their ages and Kim would have had easy access to her birth certificate and social security number.”

“And let’s face it,” Gibbs sighed, “Nobody ever checks for a death certificate.  That’s part of the reason posthumous identity thief is usually so successful.”

The elevator arrived and DiNozzo, Ducky, and Abby spilled out.  “I brought napkins,” Abby exclaimed, waving a handful of small, hot pink bar napkins in the air before claiming Tony’s chair.

Tony mockingly gave her the evil eye as he opened the top box and let Ducky take the first piece.  “Madame,” he said, offering it to Abby next before moving on to Kate.

“What’d you get with the GC/MS?” Gibbs asked, waving off the box when Tony showed it to him.

“We struck pay dirt.  I believe Doctor Mallard would like to present,” Abby replied craftily, starting to eat the toppings off her slice with her fingers.

“Yes, of course,” Ducky accepted graciously, setting aside his dinner as he wiped his mouth with one of Abby’s cocktail napkins.  “The combination of drugs suggests our dear Kimberly suffers not only from OCD but from anxiety and depression as well, not uncommon, I’m afraid.”

“There were five distinct chemical signatures,” Abby butted in.

“I was getting to that,” Ducky huffed patiently.  “Firstly, we found Fluoxetine…”

“More commonly known as Prozac.”

“Abigail.”

“Sorry.”

“Next was Clomipramine, a nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, which combined with the Fluoxetine indicates perhaps Kimberly was not initially reactive to the drug therapy.  Then there was Clorazepam usually given for anxiety although on occasion…”

“Ducky, please, it’s been a long day,” Gibbs begged.  “Can we have the short version?”

“Very well,” Ducky gave in graciously, wanting to fill his growling stomach.  “There were also traces of a neuroleptic and an antidepressant.”

“Was that so hard?  Thank you.”

“All this means what?” Tony queried, already finishing his second slice of pizza.

“It means someone had established a carefully balanced, and I believe very successful drug routine for Kimberly; one which she foolishly tossed out the window for a security clearance.”

“It means,” Gibbs corrected, draining his cup, “That she lied on her security application about drug use.”

“We should try to find her doctor,” Tony decided.

“Doctor Jeremy Burke,” Kate provided with a smile, handing over the sheet she had printed earlier.

“Wow, Kate,” Tony grinned back at her.  “Good work.  Wait a minute, who’s Cynthia?”

“Dead sister,” Gibbs muttered, finally getting up for food.

“That’s brilliant,” Ducky marveled.  “Are you quite certain?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Kate responded, wiping her fingers before once again tugging out her PDA.  “Kimberly has only missed a handful of days since she started working here.  That is with the notable exception of a three-week period about six and a half years ago.  She claimed to have been in the hospital out of state for a hiking accident.”

“Would that be February of 97?” Tony questioned, reading the paper in his hand.

Kate nodded.  “Yep, the dates match to the day of Cynthia’s last commitment by Doctor Burke.”

“All right, let’s call it a night.  We can check out Burke in the morning,” Gibbs decided.  “DiNozzo, I still want you alibied.  Pick your roomie.  Not me,” he added over his shoulder as he headed for the elevator.

Tony looked hopefully from Kate to Abby, waiting for a volunteer when Ducky slapped him on the back.  “Very well, Tony.  I suppose this one time won’t hurt.”

With a disappointed sigh, Tony grabbed the rest of their dinner and followed the M.E. out, waving to the laughing women without looking back.  “I have to stop at my apartment,” he grumbled to Ducky as they joined Gibbs in the elevator.

“Why?  It’s not like you need your pajamas,” Gibbs noted as the doors closed.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs made a show of checking his watch as a late and slightly frazzled DiNozzo stepped out into the bullpen.  

“I know, I know,” Tony muttered, tying his tie.  “Don’t blame me.  I couldn’t sleep.  Did you know Ducky has a…”

“Yep,” Gibbs cut him off with a smirk, shooting a sly glance in Kate’s direction.

Tony followed his gaze and discreetly nodded his understanding.  By the time Kate raised her head he was looking back at Gibbs.  “So you’ve seen it,” he replied as he lowered his voice conspiratorially.

“Oh yeah,” Gibbs assure in the same hushed tone.

“Has he ever let you touch it?”

“Nope.”

“What does Ducky have that he won’t let you touch and you don’t want me to know about?” Kate asked, immediately falling into the trap.

“Nothing,” both men replied in unison as they went in separate directions.  

“Guys!  You do that on purpose,” Kate accused caustically even if she couldn’t see either of them grin as they turned their backs on her.

“I’m going to present our findings thus far to Morrow,” Gibbs announced as he headed for the stairs.  “You two go pay a visit to the alleged shrink.”

“Okay, boss,” Tony agreed, dropping off his pack and waiting for Kate.

“Ducky doesn’t really have anything, does he?” Kate interrogated resentfully as she gathered what she needed and joined him.

“Ducky has lots of very… _interesting_ things,” Tony countered seriously.  “I don’t even know where to begin.”

***

“Hello?” a short man with a thinning halo of white hair answered the door.

“Doctor Jeremy Burke?” Kate queried, holding her ID and badge out to him.  

“Yes?” the gentleman adjusted his thick glasses to get a better look at the offered documents.

“I’m Special Agent Todd.  I work for NCIS.”

“The National Coalition of Independent Scholars?”

“No, Naval Criminal Investigative Services,” Kate corrected.

“Oh,” Burke replied looking confused.  “I’m not in the Navy.”

“I realize that,” Kate stammered, taken aback as she tried to gauge the elderly man’s age.  “That’s not why we’re here.”

“What’d I miss?” Tony asked as he came around the corner of the tidy little two-story house and joined them on the stoop.  “Special Agent DiNozzo,” he provided, flashing his badge.  “I had to park practically around the block.”

“Parking in this neighborhood is getting worse every day,” the doctor empathized.  “I hardly ever drive anymore, though.  My eyesight’s not what it used to be.”

“Can we come in?” Kate requested patiently.

“Certainly, certainly.  Where are my manners?” Burke ushered them in, waving a hand towards the couch.  “We’ll have to make this short though or I’ll miss my bus.”

“We would be glad to give you a ride,” Kate offered, much to Tony’s chagrin.

“Really?  Well in that case can I get you some coffee?”

“No thanks,” Tony replied as he automatically began a slow sweep of the nice yet modestly furnished room while Kate sat on the sofa.

“Doctor Burke, are you still actively practicing psychiatry?”

“Well I don’t carry a full patient load anymore, but I still have a handful of patients I haven’t been able to place with another doctor yet,” the old man explained with a smile as he took a seat on the edge of the wingback chair next to Kate.  “But there’s still plenty of time.  I’m only eighty-two.”

“Is that all?” Tony asked, ignoring the glare from Kate as he leaned in the frame of the door that led into the dining room.

“Yes,” Burke answered sincerely, turning slightly so he could see both of the agents.  “What can I do for the Navy?”

“We need to ask you about one of your past patients,” Kate began carefully.

“Oh, no.  I’m very sorry.  I could never break doctor/patient confidentiality.  It’s the cornerstone of my practice.”

“We’re not asking you to do that, we just need you to tell us if you recognize this woman,” Kate sidestepped the issue as she pulled out a copy of Kimberly’s personnel file photo.

“I suppose that would be alright.”  Burke accepted the picture and held it at arm’s length, once again adjusting his glasses.  “Bifocals,” he explained.  “I’m afraid I need to upgrade my prescription.”

“We already know the woman was once a patient of yours,” Tony prodded.  “We just want to know what name you knew her by and when was the last time you saw her.”

“This is Cynthia Gordon, she’s one of my success stories,” Burke supplied proudly without thinking.  “I got her through college and into the work force against some pretty steep obstacles if I do say so myself.  But I haven’t seen her for two months now; she just stopped making her appointments one day.  I’m very worried.  She won’t return my calls.”

“She’s off her meds,” Tony stated sadly.

“Oh my.  Oh, no.  That’s… that’s terrible,” the doctor fretted worriedly.  “We had such a tough time getting it right.”

“Does she have a close relationship with her mother?” Kate asked out of curiosity.

“Heavens no!  It’s been several years since she last visited Margaret.  That woman is crazy,” the old man declared as if someone might try to defend her.  “I can’t image anything bad enough to drive Cynthia back to her mother.”

Tony winced.  “What about men?”

“That was one area we never really made much progress,” Burke sighed.  “Cynthia was too programmed to believe the worst, although she did date another of my patients briefly.  They drove each other to distraction in no time and I had to insist they break it off.  The boy had violent tendencies and poor impulse control.  That relationship set her back years in therapy.”

“That wouldn’t have been in ’97 would it?”

Squinting hard as he thought, Burke tentatively nodded his head.  “That sounds about right but I’d have to check my records to be sure.  To separate them I had to release the boy to another psychiatrist and put her in an institution for several weeks.”

“Isn’t that overstepping your bounds a bit?” Kate recoiled in surprise at the tactics.

“Cynthia is a special case.  She came to me as a very disturbed teenager just out of the foster care system.  She had no one else to look out for her.  I know her better than anyone.”

“Her real name is Kimberly,” Tony offered as proof to the contrary.

“I know,” Burke nodded guiltily.  

“But you covered for her.”

“I didn’t see the harm then,” Burke explained.  “But her condition shouldn’t make any difference now with the Americans with Disabilities Act…”

“Yeah, that doesn’t really apply to secret government security clearances,” Tony pointed out.  “They look really hard at emotional and mental stability among other things.”

“Like honesty,” Kate agreed.

“Am I going to jail?” Burke asked timidly.

“Of course not,” Kate assured, patting his hand.  “And we do appreciate your cooperation.”

“If you see her will you encourage her to come back?  She needs me.”

“Yeah,” Kate agreed.  “I think she does.”

***

“Don’t get defensive, I just said it’s a nice shade of purple,” Kate claimed as she followed an obviously miffed DiNozzo off the elevator.

“It wasn’t purple until Ducky fixed me up,” Tony retorted as he lightly ran a finger along the seam on his forehead.

“Well stop playing with it or you’ll get it infected.”

“Where the hell have you two been?” Gibbs broke into the argument.

“Sorry, boss.  Saint Kate’s taxi service ran a little long.  We had to take Doctor Burke to the dry cleaner _and_ the pharmacy before we dropped him off at his office.”

“We made him miss his bus,” Kate objected, vainly looking to Gibbs for understanding.

“Kate, there’s a bus through there every thirty minutes,” Tony countered, not ready to give up the fight.  “The old guy played you like a Stradivarius.”

“Hey!” Gibbs growled, waving a thick folder in the air.

“What’s that?” Tony asked as he reached out to take it.

“You missed Detective Hampton while you were out sightseeing.  She looked like hell.  Apparently she was up all night interviewing a certain witness.”

“She come to arrest me?” DiNozzo opened the folder and began to peruse the first page.

“Not exactly,” Gibbs harrumphed.  “That’s a copy of Kimberly Gordon’s statement.  Haverstad sent it over as a professional courtesy to me.  Suffice it to say that due to the unreliable nature of the contents there aren’t going to be any charges.”

“Kimberly reneged on her original accusation,” Kate guessed, moving to read over Tony’s shoulder.

“Whoa,” Tony exclaimed, abruptly snapping the file shut.  “That’s… that’s… I don’t think that’s humanly possible.”

Gibbs smirked as he retreated to his desk.  “Starting with the first time she laid eyes on you to the moment you assaulted her on the stairs Kimberly described in graphic detail every sexual encounter you’ve had with her over the last two weeks.  All forty-seven of them, including times and dates.”

“But none of this ever happened,” Tony swore, hefting the folder.  Kate swiped it and opened it back up, wandering away as she started to read.

“I realize that,” Gibbs assured.  “In fact, we can discount over half of the incidents right off the bat because you were with at least one of us either at a crime scene or here in the office at times she claims to have been intimate with you.  In the case of escapade number twenty-three, I know for a fact you were in the back of a C-130 somewhere between here and Cherry Point and not in the ladies’ room on the third floor with her.”

“Wow, Tony,” Kate teased, still reading.  “You _really_ like the ladies’ room.”

“Laugh it up, Kate,” Gibbs grinned.  “You feature heavily in the events on pages four, eighteen, and thirty-eight.”

“What?” Kate squeaked as Tony ripped the report out of her hand and quickly turned to page four.  “Oh my God,” she mumbled, once again reading over his shoulder.  “Can you really do that?”

“Not twice in a row,” DiNozzo deadpanned.

“Enough,” Gibbs put an end to the browsing.  “Read it on your own time.  This case is closed.”

***

“DiNozzo, go home,” Gibbs sighed as he watched Tony rub his head again.  

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” Gibbs disputed.  “You haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since this whole fiasco started.  And don’t think I didn’t notice how you picked at your lunch.  When you don’t eat, I know something’s wrong.”

“Just a headache,” Tony mumbled as he doodled on a scratch pad.  “I don’t want to leave you in a lurch.”

“It’s hardly a lurch.  I think Kate and I can handle the little bit of paper work we have this afternoon.  If a new case comes up, I’ll call you.”

Tony looked up.  “Yeah?” he asked expectantly.  The truth was, his head did hurt and he would love to sleep for a good twelve hours straight.

“Get out before I change my mind,” Gibbs reiterated gruffly.  “And don’t even think about dragging your sorry ass in here late in the morning.”

“Thanks, boss,” Tony replied, gathering his stuff.  

“What about Kimberly?” Kate questioned, having passively witnessed the exchange so far.

“Hampton said she was damn near catatonic when they dropped her off at the emergency room this morning,” Gibbs reported.  “There’s no way they’re not going to admit her this time.”

“What if they don’t?” Kate wanted to know, sounding worried.

“It’s not like she’s ever physically attacked him,” Gibbs pointed out.  “Except for the camera thing,” he amended indicating the now impressive bruise on Tony’s forehead beneath the stitches.  “The real danger from Gordon is her lying mouth.  But I think DiNozzo has learned not to get into compromising positions with her now.  Haven’t you Tony?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Can I at least call Doctor Burke and let him know where Kimberly is?” Kate requested, already reaching for the phone.

“You sure he can handle her when she’s like this?” Tony asked with a frown.  “I mean he is getting older and it’s been awhile since the last time she went wild.”

“Like he said, he knows her better than anyone else.  She won’t be able to fool him into letting her go.”

Tony nodded reluctantly.  “You may be right about that.”

“Are you still here?”

“I’m going, I’m going,” DiNozzo grumbled on his way out.  ‘Call me,’ he mouthed to Kate behind Gibbs’ back, holding his hand to his ear in the universal phone gesture.

“I heard that,” Gibbs warned without looking up.

The elevator dinged and Tony ducked inside before Gibbs could change his mind.  

“Gibbs,” Kate started in as soon as Tony was out of earshot.

“Tony’s a grown man, Kate.  He can take care of himself.  And I promise he won’t appreciate it if we try to baby-sit him.”

“But she’s still out there.”

“And she’s going to be.  We have to let him go sometime,” Gibbs sighed.  “I don’t like it any better than you do.”

***

**One week later**

“I don’t need you to hold my hand,” Tony objected as Kate followed him down to the basement.

“Are you kidding?  I wouldn’t miss this for the world.  But I thought stitches weren’t supposed to come out until ten days.”

“I know, but Ducky’s obsessing about the scar,” Tony explained once again habitually fingering the almost completely healed laceration.  “He says if we wait too long it’ll leave marks where the sutures went in.  It’s like he’s got his whole reputation staked on the thing.”

“Is that why you’ve been rubbing coco butter on it?” Kate teased.

“I have not,” DiNozzo denied huffily.

“Tony, you smell like the beach right now.”

“Yeah, well, he insisted.  Ducky is not an easy man to say no to when he sets his mind to something.  I wonder if Gibbs ever put up with this.” Tony pondered.

Kate puckered her lips as she thought about it.  “I’ve never noticed Gibbs with a scar.”

“Neither have I.  So where’s Abby?  Surely she wanted to watch my humiliation, too.”

“Abby’s busy,” Kate all but giggled as they entered the morgue.  “She’s setting up a computer-generated simulation to try to prove encounter number thirty-three is physically impossible.  There’s a lot of money riding on it.”

“It is possible,” Ducky assured as he came out of his office, “But not very comfortable I’m afraid.  Of course, I was much younger at the time.  Go ahead and get on the table, Tony.”

DiNozzo eyed him skeptically.  “Do we have to do this on the autopsy table?”

“That’s where my light is,” Ducky sighed.  

“I know, but the _autopsy_ table?”

“You didn’t complain last time.”

“Last time I had something else on my mind.  Like how a good-looking ex-cop like me was gonna fare in prison.  Not to mention that big honkin’ needle you kept sticking me with.”

“Come on, Tony, be a big boy and lay down for Doctor Mallard.  If you’re good I’ll get you a lollipop when we’re done.”

“Very funny,” Tony scoffed as he finally settled on the edge of the table and lay back.  “Ducky, you read Kimberly’s statement?”

“ _Everybody_ read Kimberly’s statement before Gibbs put the kibosh on it,” Kate assured, her cheeks flushing a bit in spite of her boldness.  

“How embarrassing,” Tony replied, crossing his feet at the ankles and interlacing his fingers across his stomach as he got comfortable.

“Nobody thinks any worse of you, Tony.  We all know it was just fantasy.”

“I meant for her.”

“Oh,” Kate responded awkwardly.  “Well it’s not like she could ever come back to work here anyway.”

“God,” Tony exclaimed.  “The thing read like Penthouse Letters.”

“And was every bit as true,” Kate agreed.

“Hey, those letters are true,” Tony groused as Ducky brought over a tiny pair of sharp scissors and a set of tweezers.  “Don’t mess with my illusions.”

“Did you ever write a Penthouse Letter?” Kate queried in jest.  “The way you write reports I can almost visualize it; female subject number one assumed the prone position as female subject number two relieved her of her…”

“Kate!  That’s it, no more girl talk with Abby.  She’s a bad influence.”

Ducky turned on the work light and positioned it over Tony’s face.  “Do I need to remind you to be still?”

“Nope.  Just tell Kate to knock of the sex talk and we won’t have a problem.”

“Caitlin, behave.”

“Thank you,” Tony sighed as he relaxed and closed his eyes.

“So Ducky,” Kate redirected, still feeling mischievous.  “Do you collect anything?”

Glancing at her over the tops of his glasses as he bent to clip the first stitch, Ducky frowned suspiciously.  “Actually, I have several collections.  Why do you ask?”

Tony struggled not to grin.

“Just curious,” Kate replied offhandedly.  “Tell me about them.  Don’t leave anything out.”

***

“But I feel fine, Doctor Burke.  I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

“Kimberly, we’ve been over this.  You’re only feeling better because of the short-term effects of the sedatives they’re giving you,” Burke explained patiently.  “You know your medications won’t really kick in for weeks yet.”

“I hate it here,” Kim whined.  “They’re mean to me.  I want to go home.”

“Give it time, my dear.”

“Can’t I go back to the other place?  The one in Virginia where I stayed before?  I liked it there.”

Burke shook his head in amused exasperation.  “I seem to remember you hated it there, too.”

“No!  I felt safe there.  Please Doctor Burke.   _Please_.”

The old man sighed.  “I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.

***

“… and then there are my twelve eighteenth century Samurai swords,” Ducky continued even as he helped Tony into a sitting position.  “Excellent,” he praised as he swatted Tony’s hand away.  

“Smooth as a baby’s butt,” Kate agreed as she handed Tony her compact, “And just as pretty.”

“Wow, Ducky, you do good work.  Thanks.”  DiNozzo hopped off the table and handed the mirror back before heading straight for the door.

“Continue with the coco butter for at least another two weeks,” Ducky ordered.

“Don’t you want to hear about Ducky’s swords?” Kate called after him.

“I don’t have to, I’ve already seen them,” Tony replied with a self-satisfied smile.  “But you stay.  I know you’ll want to hear about the antique medical equipment in minute detail,” he added as he made a rapid retreat.  “Have fun.”

“The first sword is in nearly mint condition with the exception of a rather unfortunate deep scratch on the blade which I’m afraid did not happen in battle but due to the inept handling of a former colleague of mine.  I acquired this particular piece in an antiquities shop in Indonesia in ’72, got it for a song practically.  I suspect the dealer didn’t realize what he had…”

“Tony!”

***    

“After she entered her writing phase she improved immeasurably.  I was already making arrangements with a therapist for her when I got your call.”

“Yes, as long as Kimberly can focus on something she can appear quite competent,” Doctor Burke conditionally agreed.  “However, until we can get her back on her drug regiment, I believe it would be best to keep her in a controlled environment.”

“Look, Doctor, I realize you’ve taken care of Kimberly for a long time…”

“Almost fourteen years,” Burke provided, understanding immediately that he was about to be dismissed as obsolete.  “I took on Kimberly’s care when most sensible men my age were retiring.  I may seem like a doddering old fool to you, but I assure you, I do keep up with the advances being made in therapies and medications.”

“I’m not trying to patronize you, sir,” the much younger man lied.  “I just believe resources would be better served if we remove this particular case to an outpatient basis.  I plan to discharge her immediately.”  

“Kimberly is not just a _case_ to me,” Burke rebuked.  “I still have admitting privileges in a private facility in Virginia.  I intend to make arrangements to have her transferred there.”

“I tell you what, ol’ fella,” the resident psychiatrist placated condescendingly.  “I’m going to let her go.  Once you get her outside you can talk her into anything you want.”  With a healthy ego, an eye for the bottom line, and a lunch date he did not want to miss, the youthful Sigmund signed off on the discharge papers and dropped them into his outbox.  “Have a nice day, Doctor Burke.”

***

Words became her world.  Through them, Kimberly lived vicariously the life she wanted.  They spilled from her brain faster than she could write so she compromised and used short hand and her own special abbreviations in a vain attempt to keep up.  She filled every available centimeter of blank space on every sheet of paper she could get her hands on, stopping only when her fingers cramped too hard to hold the pencil she had pleaded for when they had refused time after time to give her a phone.

Her mind darted off in a new direction as a familiar form darkened the door.

“Kimberly.”

“Not now,” she muttered in response, desperate not to lose her train of though.  Time passed, but minutes or hours, she couldn’t tell.

“Please stop.”  A wrinkled and slightly twisted hand dropped onto the top of her words and halted their progress, startling her back to reality.

Clenching her jaw, Kimberly breathed deeply in and out until the rage inside her faded.

“That’s better,” Burke soothed.  “What are you writing?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Can I read it?”

“No, it’s… you wouldn’t understand,” Kim pleaded for her privacy.  “It’s a love letter.”

“I see.”  Burke raised an eyebrow in surprise.  “Perhaps you can explain it to me.”

“Later,” Kim made herself agree, knowing she would never share the words with anyone but Tony.

Seemingly pleased with the answer, the old man eased himself into the chair opposite her at the small round table.  “I am going to move you to Virginia,” he informed her, not quite the whole truth.  “The doctor here has already signed you out.  We’ll take a bus to my house and get my car.”

“You don’t drive anymore, Doctor Burke,” Kim pointed out, never lifting her gaze from the words.

“I don’t like to,” Burke admitted.  “Unfortunately, in this particular instance, I can’t come up with a more practical solution.  We’ll go slowly, I’m sure it will be fine.”

***

“DiNozzo.”

“Up and at ‘em, DiNozzo,” Gibbs’ much too cheerful voice demanded.  “We’ve got a crispy critter just South of Norfolk.  Gas the truck and be ready to go by four.”

“A.M.?” Tony questioned the now dead phone.  He groaned as he glanced at the glowing red numbers on his alarm clock.  “I’ve got to go to work,” he announced.

“Now?” came the slightly incredulous reply from the next pillow over.

“Yeah.  Sorry.”

“You always do this to me, Tony.”

“I know,” Tony muttered apologetically as he turned on the bedside lamp and headed for the shower.  “Can you let yourself out?”

“I always do,” the woman snorted as she gathered her clothes.

***

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Kimberly was almost happy.  Driving in to work in the old Lincoln Continental was a bit different, but if she didn’t think too hard about where she got it, she was fine.  She grabbed her borrowed cell phone off the seat and rapidly dialed only to once again hear those annoying tones and the ‘no longer in service’ message.  She was sure Tony wouldn’t change his number, not after going out of his way to give it to her.  There had to be a reasonable explanation.  

Without a parking permit she merely pulled into the visitor’s lot and sat for a few minutes doing her deep breathing exercises to calm herself.  Just to be certain, she popped two of her new nerve pills then grabbed her lunch, her sweater, and the letter for Tony out of the passenger seat and headed into the building.  

Kim ignored the usual morning crowd as they bustled around her as she made a beeline for the elevator that would take her closest to the object of her desire.  The much more powerful pills she had been given on discharge seemed to make her feel invincible.  By the time she reached him she thought she might even be able to speak to Tony face to face without hyperventilating.  That prospect was as exhilarating as it was frightening.  At any rate, when she shared with him her words, everything would work out just fine.

If she hadn’t been so intent on finding Tony, she might have noticed the odd looks she garnered as she exited the elevator.  Moving to his desk, she glanced around in frustration.  At least the tyrant and the bitch were gone as well she mused as she tapped the rolled-up stack of papers wrapped together with a rubber band against her palm.

“Hello, I’m special agent Johns.  Can I help you with something?” a man she didn’t recognize asked her with a leer.

“Where’s Tony,” Kim asked, amazed at her own level tone.

“Uh, I think his whole crew is up in Norfolk for the day.  Are you sure I can’t help you?”

“I don’t think so,” Kim dismissed the annoying little man.  She waited until he walked away before placing the letter in Tony’s chair and carefully hiding it with her sweater, deciding thoughts of her love could keep her warm under the chilly air-conditioning for the day.  She looked around distrustfully before leaving it and walking toward the stairs.

“Is that the sex kitten?” another agent queried as he joined Johns.  Together they watched Kimberly climb the steps and stop at the top to look back at Tony’s desk.

“That’s her.  It would appear she left a gift for DiNozzo.”

“I hear she’s unstable.  It might be booby trapped.”

“We owe it to Tony to check it out,” Johns agreed with a crafty smile.

“Oh yeah,” the second agent grinned.  “For Tony.”

When Kim was out of sight, they retrieved the odd package and divided it up, hoping for a good laugh.

***

Kim froze in the doorway as she entered her office.  “Who are you?” she asked the beautiful young woman already seated in her chair.

“I’m Keisha Gimble,” the girl responded politely.  “From Security Temps Inc,” she elaborated at the blank look Kim gave her.

“Oh, right,” Kimberly relaxed a little as she moved to her desk.  “You must have covered for me while I was sick.  You can go now.”

“I don’t… uh, let me check,” Keisha responded, obviously not leaving as she leaned over to activate the intercom.  “Mr. Morrow?  Could you step out here for a moment, please?”

“Get up,” Kim ordered, quickly losing patience with the interloper.  “I’m back.  We don’t need you anymore.”

“Kimberly,” Tom Morrow said in obvious surprise as soon as he spotted the trouble.  “Come into my office for a moment,” he directed his ex-assistant, waiting until she stormed past him to turn to Keisha.  “Get security up here,” he whispered before stepping back into his office and closing the door.

***

“Hey, Kate,” DiNozzo started, wording his request circumspectly as he traced a finger down the edge of the slightly open passenger window. “Do me a favor and drop me off at my place.  I’m really beat.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Kate objected immediately.  “Gibbs already ditched us for the redhead in the convertible.  I’m as tired as you are and I’m not putting the truck away by myself.”

“Come on, we’re right here.  It’ll save me thirty minutes by the time we get there and I have to turn around and come back,” Tony wheedled.  “I let you drive.”

“You didn’t let me do anything.  It was my turn.”

“That’s right, it was your turn and whoever drives puts the truck away,” Tony shrewdly turned the tables on her.  “Of course, if you don’t think you can back it in by yourself…”

“I can back it in,” Kate protested with an offended glare.  “But why should I let you off the hook?”

“How about the fact that while you were taking those extra few minutes to put on your face this morning somebody was already at the yard gassing up the truck, and I guarantee it wasn’t Gibbs,” Tony grumbled, laying on the guilt trip, secretly watching Kate to see if it was working.  She merely tightened her grip on the steering wheel, forcing him to make the killing blow.  “Why is it that women only want to be treated equally until it comes to vehicle maintenance?”

After an infuriated huff of denial, Kate fumed without another word for a few minutes as the mile markers rushed by them in the headlights.  “Isn’t this your exit?” she asked irritably, giving in in a fit of self-righteous indignation, determined to prove him wrong.  “We wouldn’t want you to miss your date with the flavor of the week,” she added for spite.

“If that’s the only reason you want to help me out, don’t bother,” Tony sighed, playing up the martyr angle even as he fished in his pocket for his keys.  “The date I might have had tonight has already started back across the Atlantic.”

“That English flight attendant again?” Kate questioned in disbelief, slowing down as she made the exit.  “I thought she told you to take a hike after the last time you stood her up.”

“I ran into her downtown yesterday,” Tony grinned.  “She was on a long layover.  Fortunately, she’s very… forgiving.”

“I’ll bet she is.  Which way now?”

“Take a right then the second left,” Tony instructed tiredly.  

“What about your car?” Kate asked as she followed the simple directions.  

“I’ll pick it up tomorrow,” Tony yawned, rubbing his eyes.  “If something else comes up tonight I’m screwed, but I can always call a cab.”

Kate snorted softly.  She knew she’d been toyed with, but at the moment, she was much too worn-out to argue about it.

“Just let me off here,” Tony said as they pulled into a residential area.  “I can cut across that alley and go through the back of the complex.”

“What’s the matter?  You don’t want me to see the dump where you live?”

“I just thought you wanted to get the truck back,” Tony smiled wickedly, trailing a hand across the back of the seat towards her shoulder.  “But if you have your heart set on coming up, I’ll help you get it back in the morning.”

“No, no,” Kate replied as she swiftly pulled over, shrugging off the wandering hand.  “I’ll let you off here.”

“Thanks,” Tony laughed lightly, silently chalking up another point.  “If you keep straight for three blocks then take the right at the light that’ll get you back on the highway.”

“Be careful,” Kate cautioned as she looked around the semi-lit neighborhood.  

“You want me to pull my gun?” Tony joked.  “I’m half a block from my apartment.  What could happen?  Good-night.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night,” Kate called to his back, waiting until he disappeared into the shadows before pulling away from the curb.

***

In spite of his flippant reassurances to Kate, Tony was vigilant as he made his way down the alley.  His cop instincts kept him on guard even as he made an effort not to gulp in the fresh, if slightly muggy air.  Not that he would ever tell Kate, although he was fairly sure Gibbs was on to him, burned bodies were his least favorite type of investigation.   

The stench always triggered a sense memory of a truly hideous incident when he’d been a young rookie and had inadvertently tripped over an unrecognizable corpse, tangling his foot in the desiccated ribcage, scattering the remains.  The dressing down had been bad enough, but it was also the one and only time he’d ever puked at a crime scene.

He would have gladly let Kate drop him off closer if he didn’t just really need to get out of the truck and the away from the smell of charred flesh that clung to both of them.  The stomach-churning odor still followed him, saturating his clothes and hair but the faint breeze seemed to pull it away, giving him the most relief he’d had all day.  

Within minutes he reached the back of his building, never spotting the brown Lincoln parked out front.  Tony quickly made his way inside and down the hall to his door.  Fumbling with the key, he realized he was more tired than he’d first thought.  He kicked the door shut, remembering to lock it as he flicked on the light and removed his gun.  Shedding clothes as he went, he headed straight for the shower.

As an afterthought, he went to the kitchen for a trash bag and gathered the trailed clothing, cleaning out the pockets before stuffing the ruined items inside.  No need to have the whole apartment reek.  He’d rather move than live with the aroma of human briquette.  When he was done, he knotted the top and tossed the bag out into the hall to deal with in the morning.  Putting his gun in the nightstand, he ignored the lipstick message on his bedroom mirror and never even glanced at the pulsing red light on the answering machine before retreating to the bathroom.

***

“Agent Todd?”

Kate sighed.  So much for stopping by her desk and then making a quick escape.  She glanced at her watch and immediately knew something was wrong.  Special Agent Johns did not hang out at the office until ten thirty at night.  “What’s up?” she asked, assessing the man’s uptight demeanor as he glanced around, looking anywhere but at her.   “Sorry, Gibbs already jumped ship.”

“No, I… I was actually waiting for DiNozzo.”

“I dropped him off at his place fifteen minutes ago,” Kate explained, her worry growing by leaps and bounds.  “What’s wrong?”

“Kimberly Gordon is out,” Johns began.  “She showed up at work this morning like nothing had happened.  Security had to physically remove her from the building.”

“Okay,” Kate allowed, letting out a little breath of relief.  “We knew she’d get out eventually and it’s not the first time she’s acted inappropriately.”

“She, ah, left something for Tony.”  Johns held out a sheaf of paper covered in pencil marks.

“I suppose you read it,” Kate accused with a disapproving frown as she scanned the first page, confused by some of the odd symbols and abbreviations.

“I’ll be honest with you, Caitlin.  We thought it was gonna be some more juicy trash talk, so yeah, we read it,” Johns admitted uncomfortably.  “And it is, but there’s a lot of other stuff in there, too.  Like pretty pictures of a cute little house with a white picket fence, two point three children, a dog, a cat, and a goldfish.  I don’t have to tell you who plays the proud poppa in this little fantasy.”

“Cut to the chase,” Kate insisted, quickly losing patience with the man.

“You’ve been hanging out with Gibbs too long,” Johns groused.  “There are other, darker things in there.  It may just be the rantings of a lunatic, but there are references to watching her mother drown her sister.”

“Oh God.”

“Worse, there’s a section where she admits to pushing a pregnant woman down some stairs.  It didn’t take a genius to put that together with Diana Fuller’s mishap, not when Gordon took her job afterward.  I checked.  The police report says that a neighbor witnessed a dark green Honda driving away from Diana’s house the day she fell, even though they eventually ruled it an accident.”

“And Kimberly drives a green Civic,” Kate finished for him.  “Why didn’t you call Tony with this?”

“It’s pretty circumstantial stuff so I didn’t want to bother him in the middle of an investigation.  Besides, I don’t have his new number and it’s not posted yet.  I did leave a message on his machine at home.”

“Please,” Kate scoffed.  “I don’t even know why he bothers with a land line; he uses his cell almost exclusively.  I’ll take care of this.  Thanks.”

“No problem,” Johns sighed, obviously glad to hand it off to someone else.  “By the way, Abby has a couple of the less worrisome pages for prints, even though several of us witnessed Gordon leave it.”

“Good,” Kate replied as she picked up the phone.  “By the way, when did she get out?”

“Yesterday afternoon.  Staff members saw her leave with some old guy.”

Kate froze, her intuition once again kicking in.  Instead of dialing Tony she dug out her PDA and found Doctor Burke’s home number and rapidly punched it in instead.  “Please be there,” she mumbled as the phone began to ring, certain the old gent would already be asleep.  

Johns hesitated then came back towards her desk.

“Put an APB out on Kimberly’s car,” Kate requested, hanging up and trying again.

“No need,” Johns replied.  “It sat in a lot at a park for almost a week before it got impounded.  She still hasn’t claimed it.”

“I have a bad feeling,” Kate swore as she tried to call Tony.  “Call me back as soon as you get this,” she told him via his voice mail before disconnecting and doing the same with his answering machine.  “Dial 911 and have them send a car to this address,” Kate instructed Johns, handing him her PDA with Doctor Burke’s address on it.

Taking a deep breath, she called Gibbs.

“Somebody better be dead,” Gibbs growled at her immediately upon picking up.

“Gibbs, just listen to me,” Kate pleaded.  “Kimberly Gordon is out of the hospital and I can’t reach Tony or Doctor Burke.  We have reason to believe that Kimberly tried to kill Diana Fuller.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the office but I’m headed to Tony’s now.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Gibbs said shortly as he hung up.

“Thank you,” Kate answered anyway, already moving.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Kimberly cried intermittently throughout the day.  The humiliation of being tossed away from her job had been one thing, but they hadn’t let her go back for the words.  And she knew, she just _knew_ they would keep them from Tony.  Everyone at NCIS hated her.  And now Tony was out of pocket and she couldn’t even call him.  It wasn’t safe to wait for him at work; there were too many influences against her there.  She drove around for a while but each time she took another pill the road became more and more blurry.  Not wanting to get pulled over, she finally parked outside of Tony’s apartment so she would see him when he got home.

She spent the evening parked under a streetlamp writing on the flattened paper bag that had held her lunch.  When the outside surface area was completely covered, she tore the bag apart to fill the inside as well.  The task was much more difficult the second time as she seemed to have a lot of trouble focusing, but Kim attempted to restore the most important parts of her words, the parts that explained to Tony how things would be.  When every square inch of the paper was full, Kim relaxed.  She popped the top off her medication with great difficulty this time, but found the bottle inexplicably empty.  Time once again seemed to have moved without her and she really wanted just one more pill.  

With nothing left to do she opened the car door and promptly fell out onto the blacktop landing on her left arm and hip.  To Kim the sudden stream of blood running down her elbow appeared to be visual only with no accompanying sensation.  In fact, everything seemed muted and dull, surrounded by a gentle, reassuring numbness.  She tried to laugh but it turned into a sob as she leaned against the side of the car until the wave of emotion passed.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself to her feet and remember the new set of words before staggering across the street.  Falling twice more before making it to the other side, even crawling part of the way, she was lucky traffic was light.  Moving on willpower alone she climbed the short rise of steps by pulling herself up with the handrail.  She’d been inside the building only once before but even in her drugged state she still knew the way to Tony’s door, leaving gory handprints along the wall as she used it for support.  Something in the hall tripped her as she neared her goal and when her sluggish reflexes failed her, she crashed face down into the floor.

Something akin to pain finally got through to her, jarring her back towards real time.  With a monumental effort, she managed to roll over and beat weakly against the door with her balled up fist.  Tony would come for her.  She just knew it.

***

Keeping his head bowed, Tony leaned on his elbows against the wall of the shower and passively let the soothing hot water carry away the final round of suds from his hair.  Although he frequently indulged in showers Gibbs would probably consider girlishly long, this one had been one for the books.  The little bit of dinner he’d eaten still felt like lead in his stomach, but the glorious steam had taken the edge off his headache.  

Reluctantly, he reached down and shut off the water.  As soon as he pushed the glass door open he heard a strange combination of noise.  “What the hell,” he muttered, quickly wiping his face before wrapping the towel around his waist and opening the bathroom door to better hear it.

As he quickly passed through the bedroom and into the living room the bizarre cacophony separated into three distinct sources.  Tony grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table and moved toward the frenzied pounding on the front door just as the answering machine picked up.

“Dammit, Tony, answer the phone,” Kate’s frantic voice pleaded from the speaker.

“DiNozzo,” Tony said into his cell.  “Hang on a minute,” he shouted to the front door, pleased to hear the hammering stop as he altered his course to take the other call.  “Kate, I’m here.”

“Tony?  Are you okay?”

“DiNozzo?” Gibbs questioned at the same time from the cell.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked both of them when the pounding on the door started up again.  “Kate, I’m going to hang up this line.  I’ve got Gibbs on my cell and someone’s at the door.”

“Okay, I’m en route,” Kate was saying as he lowered the receiver and moved to answer the door.

“Kate thinks Gordon might be coming after you,” Gibbs explained.  “Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I was in the shower,” Tony explained as he glanced out the peephole to see a bent head full of pink foam curlers.

“For twenty minutes?”

“Probably longer than that,” Tony admitted, sliding the chain back and unlocking the deadbolt.  “Mrs. Lipowski?” he called out as he opened the door, dropping his eyes to see what she was looking at on the ground.  

“Anthony!  I heard a noise,” his next-door neighbor rushed to explain.

“Call an ambulance,” Tony instructed the woman who stopped for a second to gape at him as he stood in the door half-naked and soaking wet with a cell phone plastered to his ear.  “Now,” he encouraged as he knelt down beside the bloody mess.

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs prodded gruffly for more information.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony answered, carefully removing a crimson soaked strand of hair from Kim’s forehead so he could see her face.  “Kimberly’s here.  She’s in bad shape.”

“What happened?”

“Don’t know.  The neighbor’s calling 911, I’m gonna get her inside.”  Tony set aside the phone and gently slipped his arms under the unconscious form.  He grimaced as he could still hear Gibbs and he did not sound happy.  Lifting the petite body, he carried Kim to the couch and eased her down.  As he backtracked for his cell he hastily retied the slipping towel.

“They’re coming,” Mrs. Lipowski reported, barely missing the show.  “Should I wait for them at the front of the building?”

“That would be great, Mrs. L.,” Tony replied retrieving his cell and leaving the front door open.  “Boss?”

“Don’t do that again,” Gibbs warned.  “Are you sure the nut-job isn’t just trying to set you up?”

“I don’t think so,” Tony assured as he made his way to the kitchen to snag a clean dish rag before going back to Kimberly.  “She’s out cold and I’ve got a witness who got to her first.”

“Okay, that’s good.  What’s wrong with her this time?”

Tony settled on the edge of the couch and used the rag to wipe away some of the blood.  “There’s a little gash on her forehead that doesn’t look too bad, and she’s got some scrapes on her nose, chin, elbows and knees,” he reported, tugging the hem of Kimberly’s skirt down as far as he could to cover her legs.  “That’s all I can see except she’s out like a light.  Her breathing is fine, but her face is all puffy.  It looks like she’s been crying.  A lot.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.  I should be there in a couple of minutes,” Gibbs informed him before hanging up.

DiNozzo closed the phone and tossed it into the coffee table irritably.

“Tony?” Kim asked groggily, drawing his attention as she reached out to stroke his bare shoulder.  Her eyes squinted open.  “I knew you’d save me.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” Tony asked, tugging gently on first one eyelid and then the other, troubled by the pinpoint pupils.

Kim started to cry.  “They fired me.  They took my… and they… they… sent me away…” she wept, slurring her words.

“How did you get hurt?” Tony paused as he cautiously sniffed her.  “Have you been drinking?”

“No,” Kim denied, still running her hand over his skin where her blood had mixed with the water when he carried her to produce vivid reddish-brown streaks.  “I fell.”

Easing away from her touch, Tony got to his feet.  “I’ll be right back,” he told her, relieved that she had come around.  “I’m going to put some clothes on.”

“Don’t bother,” Kim laughed, eyeing him up drunkenly as she slowly worked her way into a sitting position.

“Right,” Tony scoffed, making his way backwards into the bedroom and closing the door behind him.   He stepped into the first pair of sweats he found on the floor before dropping the towel and grabbing a button-up shirt off the back of the chair.  Deciding to take a moment to wash off the blood, he went into the bathroom and locked the door.  

Kim followed him into the bedroom a minute later, stumbling but upright.  Finding the room empty, her gaze fell on the mirror.

‘Tony Love, next time you owe me dinner.  Lisa’ was written inside a big dark pink lipstick heart.  The ‘i’ in Lisa was dotted with the imprint of a kiss.  Kim faltered as she rapidly backed away, feeling like she’d been punched.  Tony had been cheating on her while she’d been pining away for him.  Barely able to stand she let her anger propel her out of the room.

***

With a quick glance in the mirror, Tony dried his shoulder and abdomen and slipped on the shirt as he exited the bathroom.  The bedroom door was now open and he moved to it quickly without bothering to button up.  “Kim?”

He found her on the floor in the kitchen, a quivering, hysterical lump.  “Kimberly,” he said her name again as he knelt beside her, sparing a look at the bloody handprints along the countertop.  “Come back the couch.  The ambulance will be here any second.”

“Will you come with me?” she asked suddenly calm, her face hidden by her straggly hair as she huddled away from him.

“I’ll come to the hospital with you,” Tony promised, pulling her to her feet.

“No,” Kimberly sighed, barely a breath as she swayed in his arms.  “I’m leaving.”  She looked at him coldly, as if she could see his soul and didn’t approve.  Her eyes were red but her skin was deathly pale.  As she sank back to the floor, she buried a paring knife into his thigh, using her weight to drag it down through the muscle.

***

As he tried to keep Kim from hitting the floor a white-hot ache flared in his leg and for an insane fraction of a second, Tony wondered why he hadn’t heard a shot.  His body reacted with a hard, involuntary spasm and the grip he had on Kimberly slipped as she fell away, drawing the pain down his thigh.  A wave of nausea threatened to take him down as well and he grabbed the knife just as her slick fingers slithered away from the handle.

“Tony!  No!” Gibbs shouted from the door.   

Not quite registering the warning, Tony yanked the blade free in a knee jerk reaction.  He stared at the brilliant surge of red on his light gray sweatpants, suddenly aware of hands on his shoulders, grounding him and gently forcing him down.  “She stabbed me,” he stated in stunned disbelief, finally meeting Gibbs’ gaze.  His confusion solidified into a cold, dark realization that things were bad.  Very bad.  He saw something he’d never seen before in Gibbs’ usually cool eyes; fear.

“Yeah, I got that,” Gibbs replied crisply, catching Tony by the wrist and giving him two good shakes to dislodge the weapon from his iron grip.  It skittered across the floor to land just at the edge of the refrigerator.  “Son of a bitch,” Gibbs muttered as he ripped the already saturated material open.  The wound fairly pulsed with each beat of Tony’s heart.  “Looks like she got the femoral artery.”

“I don’t feel so good, boss,” Tony whispered, laying back and closing his eyes.

“Stay with me, DiNozzo,” Gibbs ordered, pressing firmly against the wound with the heel of one hand while dialing his cell with the other.

Tony gasped in pain and pounded his fist on the kitchen floor a couple times to center himself.  “Kim?” he finally asked, turning his head towards the too still body not three feet away.

“I don’t know,” Gibbs responded, without looking.  “Come on!” he urged the 911 operator to pick up.  

“Check her.  She was… off.”

“She’s been off, Tony,” Gibbs retorted heatedly.  “If I let go, you’re gonna bleed to death.  Hello!  I need an ambulance,” he tucked the cell between his shoulder and his chin to apply pressure with both hands as he gave the address, finally convincing the clerk that he knew there was already an ambulance on the way but he needed another one.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Tony stared at Kimberly’s unmoving form.  “She’s not breathing,” he decided as Gibbs let the phone fall away without removing his hands.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Tony insisted.  “You know the drill; breathing before circulation.”

Gibbs watched Kimberly for a minute, not easing up on his bruising grip a bit.  

“Gibbs.”

“I know, damn it,” Gibbs swore.  “You’ll have to hold this yourself for a couple of minutes.”  He helped Tony into a sitting position with one hand, leaning him up against the counter and bending his leg up to add isometric resistance.  “Push hard,” he ordered, not moving his other hand until both of Tony’s took its place.  He noted the fine sheen of sweat already gathering on Tony’s ashen face and tapped him on the cheek, leaving a smear of blood before going to Kim.  “I mean it DiNozzo, as hard as you can.  Don’t let me down.”

Tony nodded and increased the force of his grasp with a look of grim determination.  “I messed up,” he said.

“Later,” Gibbs put him off, already tilting Kimberly’s chin up and feeling for the movement of air against his cheek.  When he felt none, he pinched her nose and covered her mouth with his own to fill her lungs with slightly used oxygen.  Her chest rose easily under his ministrations.  After one more, he felt the side of her neck to find a thready pulse.  “How you doin’ over there?” he asked between rescue breaths.

“Been better,” Tony replied in a faraway tone of voice that indicated he was fading fast.

“Hang in there, Tony,” Gibbs persisted as he moved down to give another mouthful of air.  “Help is on the way.”

***

“…So he might have a concussion and maybe even a broken hip, but all in all, he’s not doing too bad considering he was at the bottom of those steps for over 24 hours.”

“That’s great, Johns,” Kate responded as she pulled around the corner.  She picked out the building with the small group of people gathered out front as the most probable location if there was actually trouble.  “Did you find out about his car?”

“Yeah, it’s a dark brown ’87 Lincoln, license plate…”

“Don’t bother,” Kate interrupted.  “I’m looking at it.  Thanks.”  She put her phone away as she parked behind Burke’s sedan and flicked on the small flashlight she kept under her own driver’s seat as she moved out.  

Ready for anything, she pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and knelt briefly to study the small puddle of blood next to the car.  The door was already open so she leaned in and made a visual sweep of the interior.  Amid the litter of used tissues and a half-eaten meal she spotted the lid to a pharmacy bottle.  A closer inspection led her to the empty plastic container in the floorboard, which she quickly pocketed before crossing the street.

“Tony DiNozzo?” she asked the three concerned citizens who talked animatedly on the steps.  One of the women held an irregularly shaped piece of brown paper and they seemed to be most interested in the writing on it.

“That way,” a worried middle-aged woman in a robe and fuzzy slippers waved to the hallway branching off to the right.

With a double take at the rollers in the woman’s hair, Kate pulled her gun and swiftly proceeded down the hall.  Even without directions, the trail of blood along the walls was a neon arrow pointing straight to Tony’s apartment.  In the distance she heard the wail of a siren.

***

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs demanded for the second time without getting an answer.  Just as he began to seriously debate leaving Kimberly for dead a gasp from the hall drew his attention.  “Kate!  Get over here!” he shouted, snapping the agent out of her horrified frozen stance in the doorway.  “I need you to put direct pressure on the wound.”

At the look on Gibbs’ face, Kate knew the situation was dire.  She put her gun away as she ran to Tony, dropping down beside him where he lay hunched over against the cabinet.  “Tony?” she questioned, searching for the injury but seeing nothing but the blood in his lap.

“Now, Kate!” Gibbs yelled at her.  “Use both hands!”

“Sorry Tony,” Kate muttered to the unconscious man as she put her right hand over her left and leaned heavily into his groin.

“Augh!” Tony responded immediately, sitting up and grabbing her by the wrist as he forced her away.

“Tony!  We have to stop the bleeding!” Kate pleaded, astounded by the strength in his arms in spite of his blood loss.

Unable to speak, Tony straightened his leg, revealing the torn fabric as he shifted her hands to his thigh before curling up on his side in agony.

“Oh,” Kate uttered, now able to feel the deep laceration beneath her fingers.  She shifted her weight and ignored the incredulous look Gibbs was giving her to do everything she could to save her friend’s life, certain the burning in her face came from the exertion.

“At least you got a reaction,” Gibbs snorted just as the first EMS crew arrived.

***

**Two days later**

“What does it feel like to have someone else’s blood coursing through your veins?”

“Abby!”  Tony exclaimed, wincing as she lowered the rail and climbed in next to him, promptly pilfering his new Gameboy.  “I’m trying really hard not to think about that.  Thanks so much for bringing it up.”

“I love Mario Brothers,” Abby enthused as she settled in to play, semi-reclined and shoulder to shoulder with Tony.  “Have you got Donkey Kong, too?  If you don’t I’ll get it for you.”

“Okay.”  Tony agreed as he delicately adjusted the pillow propped under his hip to offset the added weight on the narrow mattress.

“Donkey Kong?” Gibbs asked as he balanced on the crutches he’d found next to the bed, using nothing but his arms.  “That’s still around?”

“New version,” Abby supplied cheerfully.  “Actually, knowing you, there have probably been ten new versions since you last played it.”

“I’ve never played it,” Gibbs shot back indignantly, dropping his feet to the floor and leaning forward on the crutches.

A gentle tap sounded at the door and Kate poked her head in.  “Hi,” she greeted as she took in the scene, entering the room carrying a small, potted ivy.  She glanced from it to the array of flowers and gifts spread around the room.  

“Good luck finding a place to put that,” Gibbs informed her.  “I get hurt and ex-wives see it as a weakness and pop out of the woodwork to trap me in my hospital bed.  DiNozzo gets hurt and old girlfriends come bearing food and toys.”

“And flowers,” Abby added without looking up.  “Yes!” she called out in response to the game, bouncing the bed.  Tony grimaced and clinched the bedrail on the other side.

“Good grief,” Kate muttered, examining the enormous floral arraignment on the windowsill as she sat the ivy under its generous shade.  “Who sent this one?”

“It’s odd, actually,” Tony explained with a nonplussed look on his face.  “That one came from the widow who lives next door.  You know, I never thought she liked me, but she sent that and she’s even called twice to check on me.  In fact, a lot of the women in the building sent stuff.”

“Huh,” Kate replied noncommittally, debating whether or not to tell Tony about the contents of the second of Kimberly’s little manifestos.  The one his neighbors had all passed around and read before the police finally confiscated it.  She decided he was better off not knowing.  “I guess you’re just a popular guy,” she placated, avoiding Gibbs’ leer.

“Oh yeah!”

“Abs,” Tony warned, gritting his teeth and clutching at his hip just above the surgical site.

“Sorry,” Abby apologized, restraining her zeal but not putting the Gameboy away.

The door opened again and Ducky slipped inside, taking his hat off as he entered.

“Well?” Tony asked him, having sent him on a little fact-finding mission earlier.

Ducky nodded that he had succeeded.   “Thanks to Jethro’s expert field training and Caitlin’s quick thinking by giving the paramedics the empty drug bottle, it appears that Kimberly will continue in this mortal coil on some level at least.  Unfortunately, when they pumped her stomach most of the benzodiazepine had already been absorbed into her system.  Looking at the blood level on admission to the emergency room, we have to assume she took the pills slowly throughout the day.”

“I’m surprised she was still able to function,” Kate replied with a shudder.

“Years of taking similar medications built up her resistance,” Ducky pointed out.  “Otherwise, she would have succumbed much earlier.”

“When she wakes up, she’s going to face some pretty serious charges,” Gibbs growled, laying the crutches aside.  

“If she wakes up,” Ducky corrected compassionately.  

“I guess we didn’t really do her any favors,” Kate responded with a culpable frown.  “Was it a deliberate attempt at suicide or just carelessness?”

“Ah, that perhaps is one of those elusive questions we may never really know.  We may as well ask was her intention to murder Tony or merely punish him for his transgressions, real or imagined.”

“She wanted to kill me,” Tony stated matter-of-factly.  “I think she knew she was dying.  She asked me to come with her.  I just didn’t realize _where_ at the time.”

Except for the beeping of the game, the room became quiet for a minute while everyone contemplated Tony’s words.

“So, Kate,” Gibbs changed the subject slightly with a teasing quality to his voice that made Kate bristle and Tony beam.  “I have to know, what made you think she stabbed him in the…”

“Ack!  Don’t bring that up,” Tony interrupted, quickly losing the grin as he instinctively clenched a hand along his undamaged thigh.  “Talk about adding insult to injury.”

“Well,” Kate flushed deeply, trying to think of the best way to answer the question.  “I just thought… you know, the blood…” she trailed off.

“That’s where I would have stabbed him,” Abby replied, still absorbed in the game.  Dead silence reigned around her, forcing her to look up.  “I’m just sayin’; if I ever got mad enough to actually stab a guy, which I would never do, I’d go for the ‘nads.”

“I never thought I’d ever say this to a woman,” Tony declared, staring at her in appalled fascination, “Abby, get out of my bed.”

Abby smiled at him but didn’t budge as she got back to Mario.  “I think it’s a natural female reaction to aim where it hurts the most.”

“I have to agree,” Ducky surprised them by saying.  “It was discovered early on in the training of female recruits in the United States Army that when given an assumed male dummy and a bayonet, the women were four times more likely to attempt a stab to the groin than any other area.”

“Don’t you think that has more to do with upper body strength and where a woman can get the most force behind the blow than the psychological aspect …” Kate faltered slightly, “Of castrating a man?”

“Why don’t we ask Lorena?” Gibbs suggested smugly.

“’Nads,” Abby insisted.

Tony leaned over and pushed his call button.

_“Yes, Mr. DiNozzo?”_

“Can I get something for pain?” he asked gutturally.

_“I’ll send in your nurse.”_

“You do look a little peaked,” Gibbs admitted, studying Tony’s face.  “We should let you get some rest.  Just don’t get too used to lying around.  The doc says you can be back for light duty in about a week.  By the way…” he smiled, thumping DiNozzo hard on the back of the head, “Now we’re even.”

“Ow,” Tony complained, grabbing the new hurt.

Abby rolled to her feet, depositing the Gameboy on Tony’s stomach before leaning in to kiss him on the temple.  “Call if you need anything, hon.  I’ll bring you some more batteries tomorrow.  I’ve got drawers full of them at home.”

“Really,” Tony drawled, raising an eyebrow provocatively, still rubbing his head.

“Really,” Abby assured with a grin as she followed Gibbs toward the door.

“I should be off as well,” Ducky proclaimed, stopping to once again admire his own handiwork.  “At least you’ll only be getting one scar out of this ordeal.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, fingering the fading line on his forehead.

“I’ll bring the coco butter.”

“Coco butter and batteries,” Gibbs grunted, as he led the group out.  “Only DiNozzo.”

“Kate,” Tony called after her.  “I haven’t had the chance to say thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” Kate replied, waving at the potted plant.

“No, I meant… for saving my life.”

Kate’s reply was cut off as a long-legged nurse brushed past her in the doorway and Tony’s face lit up with a DiNozzo special.

“See ya,” Kate grinned shaking her head as she joined her friends in the hall.  “He’s never going to change.”

***

Tony pushed the door to the private room open and used his single crutch to maneuver inside.  “Kimberly,” he said formally as he approached her bed and placed the small bouquet of flowers from the hospital gift shop on the bedside table.  “Don’t make a big deal, okay?  I just didn’t think anyone else would bother.”

He hissed at the pull of his well-healed stitches as he seated himself in the square, slightly padded chair and propped the crutch against his knee.  “Doctor Burke is doing well.  They put a pin or something in his hip and they’re expecting a full recovery.  He’ll probably come see you when he’s up and around.

“Your other victim is right down the hall in roughly the same shape as you.  How’s that for ironic?  They took the baby a couple days ago and she’s doing pretty well.  They might let her daddy take her home tomorrow.  I guess I came out better than a lot of other people whose lives crossed with yours,” Tony mused reflectively, rubbing the ache in his thigh.

“I would like to be generous and believe all this was because of your… you know, problems,” he continued his monologue, playing with his crutch instead of looking at Kim.  “But I really do think a lot of your choices were deliberate ones, bad ones, granted, but choices all the same.  The things you did you did without remorse.  Maybe that’s a whole other sickness in itself, but who am I to judge?  I’ll leave that to people who are a lot smarter than me to figure out.”

With a sigh Tony struggled to his feet.  “Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say.  They’re letting me go home and I guess I just needed a little closure.  Good-bye, Kimberly.  I hope wherever you are, you finally found some peace.”  

He hobbled to the door and opened it, stopping for a minute to listen to the soft whoosh of the ventilator before walking away.

 

The End

 

 


End file.
